Justin Timberlake has apologised for any offence caused after he spoke out in praise of a speech at this year's BET Awards about racial equality.

Actor Jesse Williams gave a speech at the ceremony on Sunday (June 26) after winning the Humanitarian Award and it touched on how popular entertainment has often exploited black culture.

He said: "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."

Writing on Twitter, Timberlake reacted by saying: "@iJesseWilliams tho... #Inspired #BET2016."

This led to a number of users panning the musician for apparently appropriating music and culture in the past.

Responding to a dissenter, Timberlake wrote: "Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation. Bye."

The US star then added: "I feel misunderstood. I responded to a specific tweet that wasn't meant to be a general response. I shouldn't have responded anyway...

"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.

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

Follow us: @Pressparty on Twitter / Pressparty on Facebook.

Watch the speech below: