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Twitter checks Justin Timberlake's privilege after his controversial BET Awards comments

"I forget this forum sometimes..."

Martha Tesema

on June 27, 2016

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The BET Awards delivered on their promise of epic performances, Prince tributes and more—but also included a stirring sermon from 2016 BET Humanitarian Award recipient Jesse Williams, who spoke on racial justice, police brutality and cultural appropriation.

It was a moving speech that drove Justin Timberlake and thousands of others to Twitter. After JT wrote he was "#inspired" by the speech, a storm began to brew as people quickly questioned Timberlake on his understanding of his position of privilege in the music industry.

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Twitter users pointed out the fact that Timberlake has profited immensely off of R&B—a genre with deep roots in the black community—without ever having publicly supported movements for racial equity.

"So does this mean you're going to stop appropriating our music and culture?" Twitter user @MrErnestOwens asked, additionally mentioning Timberlake should apologize for the "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Superbowl halftime show with Janet Jackson—a moment that many people on Twitter said ruined her career due to public backlash and restrictions she faced.

Timberlake responded in a manner than many took as flippant and prompted even more frustrated responses.

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A flurry of tweets to Timberlake highlighted the fact that Williams was addressing the careers of entertainers like Timberlake in his speech. On stage, Williams called out the industry for "burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil, like black gold."

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