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Justin Timberlake Faces Backlash After Sending Supportive Tweet to Jesse Williams

Last night at the BET Awards, Jesse Williams made an extraordinary speech about racism, police brutality and cultural appropriation. After accepting the entertainment network’s Humanitarian Award, Williams spoke for nearly five minutes about our many modern injustices, rousing the crowd and earning a standing ovation.


Williams’s brilliant words lit up the internet, even catching Justin Timberlake’s attention. Timberlake responded by saying he was inspired by the actor’s words. 



He received some negative reactions to this, though. In particular, this tweet: “Did you like the part when Jesse talked about white people stealing from us? That should resonate with you.”

After the accusation of cultural appropriation, Timberlake defended himself. “The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation.” Ehh, not quite, JT. Your intentions may be genuine in that statement, but the reality is that we aren’t all the same and we can’t all understand each other’s experiences, particularly when we’re talking about the marginalization black people and other people of color have endured for a very long time.



Many individuals responded to Timberlake by bringing up that time he ripped off Janet Jackson’s shirt during a performance, exposing her breast during the 2004 Super Bowl. Jackson endured harsh criticism and was held responsible for somehow forcing viewers to endure her indecency while Timberlake seemingly came away from the ordeal unscathed.

After receiving even more disapproval for his choice of words, Timberlake apologized but continued to express that he “really [does] feel that we are all one…A human race.” It’s great that Timberlake attempted to participate in and appreciate the conversation that Williams prompted, but he seems to need a lesson on what it means to be a successful white man in the realm of racial justice.

Margeaux Biché

Columbia Barnard

Margeaux Biché is a current senior at Barnard College living in New York City. During her freshman year, she studied at the George Washington University in D.C., where she wrote for The GW Hatchet. She is a Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies major and is passionate about social justice. While she does not know exactly where she'll take her degree, she hopes she can contribute to the advancement of marginalized peoples through legal and/or activist work. Chocolate covered pretzels are her favorite food, Rihanna is her favorite musician and her go-to talent is her ability to wiggle her ears. Margeaux loves dogs, hiking and her hometown basketball team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, all of which are oft-featured on her Instagram account. Twitter | LinkedIn