Is it too late now to say sorry? Justin Bieber took to Instagram on Tuesday, December 3 to stand up against racism and apologize for his past remarks.
“When I was young I was uneducated and found myself saying really hurtful things not knowing the power of my words,” he wrote. “Racism is still very prevalent and I want to use my voice to remind we are all human being and all of EQUAL VALUE BEFORE GOD!”
For those who forgot, the “Love Yourself” crooner was caught using the n-word in several videos back in the day. In 2014, an old clip of the 25-year-old singing his hit song, “One Less Lonely Girl,” but replacing the word “girl” with the n-word went viral. A video of the singer telling racist jokes also hit the web a few months later.
“As a young man, I didn’t understand the power of certain words and how they can hurt. I thought it was OK to repeat hurtful words and jokes, but didn’t realize at the time that it wasn’t funny and that in fact my actions were continuing the ignorance,” he said in a statement at the time. “Thanks to friends and family, I learned from my mistakes and grew up and apologized for those wrongs. Now that these mistakes from the past have become public, I need to apologize again to all those I have offended. I’m very sorry. I take my friendships with people of all cultures very seriously and I apologize for offending or hurting anyone with my childish and inexcusable mistake. I was a kid then and I am a man now who knows my responsibility to the world and to not make that mistake again. Ignorance has no place in our society and I hope the sharing of my faults can prevent others from making the same mistake in the future. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say, but telling the truth is always what’s right. Five years ago I made a reckless and immature mistake, and I’m grateful to those close to me who helped me learn those lessons as a young man. Once again… I’m sorry.”
Justin’s wife, Hailey Baldwin, has also come under fire for racist remarks. Hailey was accused of using the n-word in a series of alleged Instagram comments and DMs, which were reposted by fans in 2018. Back in March, the model was also slammed after some old offensive tweets resurfaced.
“Shut up before I smack you back to your own country!” the 21-year-old star seemingly wrote in January 2012, in a tweet that has now been deleted.
Another April 2014 tweet allegedly read, “Leaving to Florida white but coming back to NY a different race,” which she later apologized for.
“I apologize if I offended anyone. Was meant to be a joke!” she wrote. “Clearly I wasn’t meaning to be racist with my tweet I was making a joke about getting a tan. Everybody chill.”
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