Justin Bieber apologizes after video of racist joke released

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Justin Bieber apologizes after video of racist joke released
(Image credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Justin Bieber apologized Sunday after footage of the singer telling a racist joke surfaced. The clip was apparently shot when he was 15 and filming for his 2011 documentary, Never Say Never.

In the video, People reports, Bieber says, "Why are black people afraid of chainsaws?" The punchline: "Run n—, n—, n—, n—, n—." In response to the release of the video, Bieber said in a statement to The Associated Press, "I thought it was okay 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."

Calling his behavior "childish" and "inexcusable," Bieber said he learned his lesson: "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 of those who I have offended."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.