Larry Willmore hosted a round table discussion yesterday where he got a chance to speak on the controversy about Justin Timberlake and Jesse Williams’s BET speech. Vic Mensa says he feels as though Justin Timberlake is highly selective when it comes to when he wants to defend the african-american culture.
Mensa syas,
“Our problem here is that Justin Timberlake himself–you know–is definitely benefiting from using black culture for his sound, his dance moves, his dancers, and blowing up off of it. But if you roll down Justin Timberlake’s Twitter for the past two years, which I just did, you see nothing that supports black people when it’s more difficult, when there’s a struggle.”
He went on to speak about many crisis in the black community such as the water crisis in Flint, the BlackLivesMatter movement, and the riots in Baltimore. Mensa says if Timberlake was truly inspired he would do more to help the black communities.
“That’s a dangerous subject for him to touch. We’re not feeling him being down when it’s beneficial to him, and turning a blind eye when it could be dangerous. Sit down until you show us you care. Don’t tell us shit unless you show us you care.”
Mensa took to Twitter after to say he is not bashing Timberlake but simply stating how he felt.
My statements on @TheNightlyShow were not to bash Justin timberlake. I was just shedding some light on the idea of cultural appropriation
SOURCE: COMPLEX
