Jesse William’s speech on racial equality at Sunday’s BET awards drew a lot of praise and inspired a lot of people.
And one of those is no less than pop superstar Justin Timberlake, who tweeted out his support of the Grey’s Anatomy star.
@iJesseWilliams tho…#Inspired #BET2016
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016
All fine and dandy, right?
Not quite, because things took a wrong turn when the singer responded to a specific tweet that accused him of cultural appropriation.
So does this mean you're going to stop appropriating our music and culture? And apologize to Janet too. #BETAwards https://t.co/0FwBOQR24D
— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) June 27, 2016
Which was something that Jesse William’s speech pointed out to;
…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, black gold. Ghettoizing and demeaning our creations, then stealing them, gentrifying our genius,
Justin tweeted out:
https://twitter.com/jtimberlake/status/747276674073395200
A lot of people mocked the singer for being racially insensitive with his response.
"the more you realize we are the same" – Justin Timberlake.
So you get judged by the color of your skin too? pic.twitter.com/2YHwKbQFI0— Dub (@DubOnDaBeatz) June 27, 2016
as a fan: all you have to do is listen. Don't get defensive. Just listen. Hear what folks are saying.
— anildash (@anildash) June 27, 2016
This one tweet in particular was biting since it also pointed out a major part of Jesse Williams speech:
https://twitter.com/OhItsShell_/status/747280391090823168
In Williams’ speech he said:
The burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander. That’s not our job, all right? Stop with all that. If you have a critique for the resistance — for our resistance — then you’d better have an established record of critique of our oppression. If you have no interest … If you have no interest in equal rights for black people, then do not make suggestions to those who do. Sit down.
Justin made an immediate correction and wrote that he felt that people may have misunderstood him.
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
He then clarified what he meant by the first tweet, which is that he believes that we are all one human race.
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
And as a credit to him, he did give an apology to those who felt he had spoken out of turn.
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
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