Justin Timberlake ruffled some feathers Sunday night [June 26] after commenting on the powerful speech Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams gave at the 2016 BET Awards.
The “Suit & Tie” singer initially tweeted how he was “#inspired” by the speech which touched on many tear-jerking subjects among Black people such as social justice, police brutality, cultural appropriation and racial issues.
But that wasn’t what sent “Black Twitter” in attack mode. It was the response he sent to one of his followers by the name of Ernest Owens, who sent him a tweet saying, “So does this mean you’re going to stop appropriating our music and culture? And apologize to Janet too. #BETAwards.” Owens was obviously referring to the Superbowl halftime incident in 2004, when Justin flashed one of Janet Jackson‘s boobs on stage.
In response to Mr. Owens, Timberlake tweeted: “Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation. Bye,” and this only led to more backlash. The 35-year-old singer apologized this morning in a series of tweets.
Timberlake wrote, “I feel misunderstood. I responded to a specific tweet that wasn’t meant to be a general response. I shouldn’t have responded anyway…
“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.”
“I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US.” –JT
