Justin Timberlake Twitter Controversy With Jesse Williams Reignites Petition

Justin Timberlake certainly didn’t expect a Twitterstorm when he complimented Jesse Williams on his speech at the BET Awards. Rolling Stone describes what went terribly wrong.

“Timberlake tweeted that he was ‘#inspired’ by Jesse Williams’ humanitarian award acceptance speech. A barrage of Twitter followers, specifically one named Ernest Owens, jumped on the tweet, telling Timberlake to ‘stop appropriating our music and culture’ and apologize to Janet Jackson after leaving her to weather the post-Nipplegate fallout.

Although it wasn’t taken seriously at the time, the Inquisitr was the first to report on a petition last month that wanted to hold Justin Timberlake responsible for the “cultural theft” of the black community. Many of the people who signed it did so in order to say how crazy it was. However, after what is being called “Timbergate” erupted, the petition has resurfaced on Change.org and has even updated its mission statement.

“Update: On June 26, Justin Timberlake sent racist tweets out concerning civil rights leader Jesse Williams. We must boycott all his records, his record company (Universal Music Group) and put his career on death row. We won’t let him get away with this,” the petition reads.

The original mission statement was already harsh enough.

“Justin Timberlake has made a career out of culturally appropriating his music, looks, and just about everything else from the black community. This should be a crime and it needs to stop. It’s okay for white artists to appreciate black music, but they shouldn’t do black music. This is racism and white privilege out of control.”

Some of the people who recently signed the petition left some pretty hateful remarks.

“I will never buy a record from this white idiot again. He is as bad as any KKK member, but just knows how to hide his racism better,” claims George Spengler.

“I don’t wish bad things for people, but I hate this man…,” says Wayne Kennedy.

Meanwhile, there are some people on Twitter who are defending Justin Timberlake.

Jesse Williams inspired people of all color with his speech tonight. Leave Justin Timberlake alone people.

— Zoe ?? (@YourFavoriteZoe) June 27, 2016

The editors of USA Today recently wrote a column to explain why Twitter destroyed Justin Timberlake.

“So he took the natural next step: He tweeted about it. He said he was #inspired. Super. But then he said ‘we are all the same,’ which, well, users said wasn’t the point. Black people aren’t treated the same, and Timberlake has profited from an industry that loves black music and black culture — but only when performed by white people.”

Some YouTubers have been defending Justin Timberlake as well and believe he is being unfairly targeted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpvhczeZ1YE

The term “cultural appropriation” has been thrown around more than just about any other term out there right now. Some people see it as a legit term. However, others see the term as being used to divide people and cause censorship. Certainly, Justin Timberlake isn’t the only artist accused of this.

Katy Perry was massively criticized when she performed “Unconditionally” at the American Music Awards back in 2013 while wearing a geisha-inspired outfit. Iggy Azalea has also been criticized for cultural appropriation for her music. In a way, Justin Timberlake can be considered lucky that he hasn’t been a target of the accusations this long.

Do you think people are overreacting to Justin Timberlake’s tweet, or do you think they have a point about his alleged cultural appropriation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

[Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images]