It was a watershed moment for the black community that ended with Justin Timberlake being accused of white privilege and cultural appropriation.

The singer was forced to apologise on Monday for the condescending tone of a Tweet to a black journalist and maintaining "we are all the same" in light of actor Jesse Williams' historic speech at the BET Awards on Monday.

The Grey's Anatomy star and activist received a standing ovation for his impassioned sermon on race relations and inequality in America, which has been described by Black Lives Matter activists as a "top tier moment".

Things soon went ary when Timberlake tweeted his own praise for Williams, saying he had been "inspired" by the speech.

In the stinging social media backlash, Timberlake was accused of cultural appropriation and benefiting from black culture throughout his career - one of the exact issues Williams' mentioned in his speech as "gentrifying our genius".

Bye. https://t.co/FeTmGLOKVc— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) June 27, 2016

Activists and members of the black community chided Timberlake on Twitter but instead of initially apologising, the singer publicly condescended one of his detractors.

"Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realise that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation. Bye," he wrote.

Timberlake quickly issued a mea culpa after being accused of ignorance by the black community, defending himself as "misunderstood".

"I apologise to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US."

Black Lives Matter activist and journalist Shaun King said Timberlake had walked into a trap of his own making, even if he didn't mean to be malicious.

"I think Justin Timberlake was genuinely inspired when he heard the speech, but that when he heard the last part about "trying us on like costumes" that it probably never occurred to him that some think he does just that," wrote King in New York's Daily News.

Williams' profound speech - which called out police brutality and the exploitation of black Americans - went viral instantly, with the actor and activist receiving universal praise online.

Recognising Ferguson protesters, the unique contributions of black women to civil rights struggles and domestic stability, as well as police violence as a failure of government, Williams proved an equal to the night's music with his speech.

"Freedom is always conditional here," he said. "Freedom is always coming in the hereafter. But the hereafter is a hustle. We want it now."

Jesse Williams accepting the humanitarian gong at the BET Awards.

He also saved some barbed words for journalists who had criticised Black Lives Matter activists for their perceived overreach or disorganised tactics.

"The burden of the brutalised is not to comfort the bystander," he said. "If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression.

"If you have no interest, if you have no interest in equal rights for black people then do not make suggestions to those who do. Sit down."

The BET Awards have never shied away from the fact that, despite the wide appeal of many of its stars and performances, the show is meant as a celebration of and conversation for black American audiences. Williams' speech used the reach of pop culture to deliver incendiary civil rights activism - mincing no words about how even the cultural output on display had been mined for exploitation.

"We're done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil - black gold, ghettoising and demeaning our creations then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit," he said, referencing the song made famous by Billie Holiday for its devastating imagery of lynching.

In a show that, at its best moments, drew lines in the sand about the vitality and essence of black culture to the American story, Williams' speech was perhaps its most immediate and passionate example.

"Just because we're magic doesn't mean we're not real," he said with a wry wit about stereotypes and full-throated embrace of the potential of reclaiming it."​

- with Los Angeles Times