People are outraged at Justin Timberlake for his response to a speech about racism

Justin Timberlake fielded a series of negative tweets on Monday in response to his praise of actor and Black Lives Matter activist Jessie Williams's moving speech at Sunday's BET Awards.

Timberlake tweeted that he was "inspired" by Williams' speech on institutional racism, which addressed the police-related deaths of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and many others, before concluding with an attack on cultural appropriation.

After Timberlake praised Williams' speech, the singer's Twitter followers lashed out, accusing him of "appropriating" black culture himself as a white R&B artist. 

One person responded to Timberlake's praise of Williams by tweeting, "So does this mean you're going to stop appropriating our music and culture?" 

Timberlake then responded to this tweet with a statement that only further angered some:

Timberlake's "we are the same" statement regarding racial unity set the internet off, as his followers went on to lambast the singer for being racially insensitive. 

 

Timberlake responded to the backlash with a string of tweets, saying he felt "misunderstood." He went on to apologize for his comments.