Justin Timberlake Apologizes After Getting Blasted for His Response to Jesse Williams’ BET Awards Speech

Jesse Williams’ BET Humanitarian Award acceptance speech was by far the best moment of the night at the 2016 BET Awards.

“We’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil. Ghettoizing and demeaning our creations, then stealing them, gentrifying our genius, and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit,” preached Jesse.

[If you missed his speech, you can watch and read it in its entirety here]

Justin Timberlake, who doesn’t speak much on Twitter outside of promoting his projects, took to the platform and tweeted that Jesse’s speech left him ‘inspired.’

One user called JT out, suggesting he stop ‘appropriating’ Black culture and that he should apologize to Janet Jackson —  to which Justin replied, “Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation. Bye.”

It wasn’t long before the backlash rolled in swift and heavy. Justin tried to apologize…but in the end made it worse.

@iJesseWilliams tho…#Inspired #BET2016

— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

https://twitter.com/jtimberlake/status/747276674073395200

I feel misunderstood. I responded to a specific tweet that wasn't meant to be a general response. I shouldn't have responded anyway…

— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

I forget this forum sometimes… I was truly inspired by @iJesseWilliams speech because I really do feel that we are all one… A human race

— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US.

–JT

— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

Sorry, Justin. You can’t take words from a Black man directed to Black people about injustices in America pertaining to Black people make it into a ‘we are the same’ moment. That’s the exact opposite of what Jesse’s brilliant speech was about.