Justin Timberlake apologized Sunday night for praising actor Jessie Williams’ pro-Black Lives Matter speech at the 2016 BET Awards after critics accused the pop singer of “appropriating” black culture.

Grey’s Anatomy star Williams used his BET Humanitarian Award acceptance speech to denounce “whiteness,” which the actor accused of taking black culture and profiting from it.

An “inspired” Timberlake sent out a laudatory tweet at Williams to his own 55 million Twitter followers.

But the 35-year-old “Can’t Stop The Feeling” singer quickly found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of criticism on Twitter.

Within minutes, Timberlake was being bombarded with tweets from people accusing him of stealing black culture, all while staying silent on the issues that Black Lives Matter activists support.

So does this mean you're going to stop appropriating our music and culture? And apologize to Janet too. #BETAwards https://t.co/0FwBOQR24D — Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) June 27, 2016

inspired to do what? Continue to emulate black culture through your music while ignoring issues affecting black people? — Nice For What ⁶ (@chrystallll) June 27, 2016

Did you like the part when Jesse talked about white people stealing from us? That should resonate with you. — sockruhtese (@sockruhtese) June 27, 2016

I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US. –JT — Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

Timberlake then made the point that he’s no different than his critics, tweeting, “The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation.”

https://twitter.com/jtimberlake/status/747276674073395200

But the backlash only intensified after that tweet.

"the more you realize we are the same" – Justin Timberlake.

So you get judged by the color of your skin too? pic.twitter.com/2YHwKbQFI0 — Dub (@DubOnDaBeatz) June 27, 2016

"We are the same…" Justin Timberlake pic.twitter.com/NKQeOIFRK3 — Felonious Munk (@Felonious_munk) June 27, 2016

#JustinTimberlake by saying we are all the same dismissed Jesse Williams speech entirely and proved his point at the same time well done 👏🏾 — Christmas_punnany 🎄🇲 (@skinglo_afro) June 27, 2016

It wasn’t long before JT was sending out a series of apologetic tweets.

“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,” he wrote.

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 — Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

“I feel misunderstood. I responded to a specific tweet that wasn’t meant to be a general response. I shouldn’t have responded anyway …” he continued.

I feel misunderstood. I responded to a specific tweet that wasn't meant to be a general response. I shouldn't have responded anyway… — Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

“I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn,” he tweeted. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US –JT”

I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US. –JT — Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson