Twitter users have slated Justin Timberlake after the singer tweeted about Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse William’s speech at the Black Entertainment Television awards Sunday night.
Jesse received the Humanitarian award for his civil rights activism, and the 34-year-old actor used his acceptance speech to call attention to racism in the United States – and the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Jesse accused the white entertainment industry of “burying black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil […] Ghettoising 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.”
Justin Timberlake took to twitter to praise the speech:
@iJesseWilliams tho…#Inspired #BET2016
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016
It wasn’t long before twitter users started accusing him of hypocrisy and appropriating black culture with his music, the same problem Williams criticized in his speech.
@jtimberlake Your whole career has been biting off of black music. You wouldn’t even be as popular as you are if you were black..
— shelly from da block (@OhItsShell_) June 27, 2016
Another twitter user reiterated the accusation and called for Justin to apologise to Janet Jackson for the notorious Super Bowl performance in 2004, where he tore off a part of her costume and exposed her breast:
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
To that tweet, Justin responded with what many viewed as dismissive comments. As the critics closed in, he rushed to defend himself.
Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation.
— 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
At this, twitter users criticised his comments “we are the same” and “we are all one” as missing the point of Jesse William’s speech, which highlighted the differences in how black and white people are treated.
@jtimberlake how have you been in the industry for decades and have not spoke ONCE about black rights? But you consider yourself one of us?
— shelly from da block (@OhItsShell_) June 27, 2016
Meanwhile, others jumped to defend the singer.
yall want equality so bad but when justin timberlake says we’re all one yall attacking him. WTF YALL WANT THEN?!?!?
— CVRVY MOCHA (@iDontGiveAFTho) June 27, 2016
Justin later apologised in a tweet, saying he had “nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US.” Â
