Justin Bieber apologizes after video of racist joke released

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."

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