Justin Timberlake bombarded on Twitter after comment following Jesse Williams' BET Awards speech

Justin Timberlake is taking heat on social media after reacting to a speech that addressed race given by an African-American actor on Sunday's BET Awards.

Timberlake tweeted Sunday night that he was "#inspired" after hearing actor Jesse Williams' Humanitarian Award speech.

Almost immediately, Timberlake was bombarded with messages including one from Ernest Owens which read: "So does this mean you're going to stop appropriating our music and culture? And apologize to Janet too. #BETAwards"

To that Timberlake responded: "Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation."Many users interpreted his response as condescending.

He followed that message with others that read: "I feel misunderstood. I responded to a specific tweet that wasn't meant to be a general response. I shouldn't have responded anyway..." and "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 finally apologized with the message: "I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US. -JT"