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Justin Bieber Offers Heartfelt Apology For N-Word Joke, Floyd Mayweather Defends

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 04:10 PST, Jun 2, 2014

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is defending his pal Justin Bieber:”We all make mistakes when we are young, it’s part of growing up.”

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has come out swinging in defense of Justin Bieber after leaked video of the then 15-year-old telling a racist joke was published by a British tabloid on Sunday.

The champion boxer, who has known Bieber for years, posted a supportive statement after the singer’s apologized for his N- word gaffe.

Mayweather put up a snap of himself and Justin backstage at his most recent Welterweight victory earlier this month, using the caption to explain why he is standing by the Canadian.

“Justin has been nothing but kind to me, my daughters and sons over the years,” the 32-year-old wrote.

Mayweather continued: “We all make mistakes when we are young, it’s part of growing up. I am proud of what he’s doing as a 20 year old musician and business man.”

(Photo: Bieber and Mayweather, backstage at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand on Mat 3, 2014.)

An almighty storm kicked off after The Sun on Sunday posted an old video of Bieber telling a racist joke asking, “Why are black people afraid of chainsaws?”

The repeated punchline,” Run, n****r… run” imitated a chainsaw sound.

The Sun is claiming Bieber was 17 when the footage was allegedly filmed for the Never Say Never concert-movie.

However, simple math reveals Justin was 16 when the documentary — shot from the summer of 2010 onwards — was released on February 11, 2011.

According to TMZ, who claim they received the video four years ago but didn’t publish it due to Bieber’s age, the singer was 15-years-old when the video was filmed backstage at a 2010 promotional event.

Either way, the clip isn’t clever but it is four or five years old. In other words, Bieber was a kid when he made the N-word slur.

The 20-year-old issued an apology a few hours after TMZ also posted the video.

“As a kid, 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,” Bieber said.

Justin went on to thank “friends and family” for helping him learn from his “mistakes,” adding that he needed to “apologize again to all those I offended” after his “mistakes from the past have become public.”

“I’m very sorry,” he added, “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,” Justin continues.

Concluding that he hoped the “sharing of my faults can prevent others from making the same mistake in the future,” Bieber’s apology ends by admitting his racial slur was a “reckless and immature mistake.”

In The Sun’s report it’s suggested Bieber’s 15-year-old mistake represents an endgame for his career.

The paper quoted an alleged source who said Justin will not be supported by his African-American friends in the industry, including — Will Smith, Drake, his mentor Usher and Lil Wayne — to name a few. So far, in addition to Floyd Mayweather, the following disagree with that prediction:

Bieber’s former bodyguard, Kenny Hamilton, posted a series of tweets in defense of the singer he once protected, declaring finally:

Wilson Warren, a former assistant of Bieber, posted:

Mike Lerner, the official photographer on the singer’s Believe tour, wrote:

Meanwhile, Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun tweeted praise for the singer’s apology.

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