Justin Bieber Takes Responsibility But Will — Rightly — ‘Never Apologize For Being Human’

Justin Bieber apologized numerous times this year for previous missteps. In his televised Comedy Central Roast in March, he publicly declared that he was sorry for losing “some of his best qualities.”

Difficult as it most likely is to nutshell over a year and half of dramas of varying degrees of seriousness — many of which are disputed — Bieber has clarified what he apologized for, and what he didn’t, saying: “I’ll never apologize for being human.”

Speaking to Women’s Wear Daily about what he described as “all the negative stuff that’s been portrayed of me” in an pre-performance interview at last week’s Calvin Klein Jeans’ music event in Hong Kong, the 21-year-old explained his perspective.

“People wanted me to apologize, which I don’t know if it’s really fair,” Bieber said, honestly revealing he was advised to make public amends for some of his behavior.

The singer stressed that he is owning up to what he feels deserves to be owned, insisting, “I’ll definitely take responsibility … as I’m growing, but I’ll never apologize for being human and making mistakes.”

Seemingly referring to his non-criminal string of snafus during 2013-14, the Canadian star reflects, “I think that that’s just part of growing and living and becoming a man or a woman. It’s been a cool learning process.”

Bieber continued, “I’m really happy where I am right now, that’s for sure.”

At that point in the sit-down, Bieber reached out to his detractors, asking them to, “Take a second to, like, step back and evaluate the situation and think, ‘Okay, that might not be true,’ or just give me the benefit of the doubt. That’s all I ask.”

Back in January, following his nervous appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Bieber posted a smartphone-filmed video to his social media accounts. In it, he took responsibility for non-specified actions that he called “arrogant or conceited.”

At the time, he went on to say that the “I don’t give a f—” persona he had demonstrated for the “past year and a half” was not “who I was pretending to be.”

He added, “Why I say I was ‘pretending,’ is often we pretend to be something we’re not as a cover up of what we’re truly feeling inside,” adding that he now wanted to “make the best impression on people and be kind and loving and gentle and soft.”

Shortly after the clip was posted, Justin Bieber fans trended “WeDontJudgeYouJustin” as a worldwide topic on Twitter.

The media glibly dubbed the singer’s declaration as an apology, likely because it made for more dramatic headlines. But, in reality, Bieber’s words in the video read as a statement of self-responsibility.

A few days later, the Biebs again sat down with Ellen and talked about his confession clip. He began by saying he thought he looked really nervous during his first appearance on the show (in 2015) and wanted to explain why.

Bieber told DeGeneres, “People often forget that, even with their comments and stuff, they think it doesn’t get to me. But it gets to me.”

“You know things that people say bothers me and I gotta be strong enough to just keep it pushing,” he added, “But, yeah, that’s why I just wanted to make a video to just let people know that I’m human.”

At the end of his rebuttal at his Comedy Central Roast a month later, Bieber addressed the audience with a seemingly heartfelt speech.

“I turned a lot of people off the past few years,” he said. “There’s really no preparing me for this life; I got thrown into this at 12-years-old.” He added that he was “pretty disappointed” with some of his past conduct.

The singer went on to state, “But the things that I’ve done don’t really define who I am. I’m a kind-hearted person who loves people and through it all, I lost some of my best qualities. For that, I’m sorry.”

Bieber wrapped up, declaring, “Someone close to me once said, how you rise from a fall is how you are truly defined as a man. I’m excited for that challenge. And I want to say thank you so much for taking this journey with me and I’m excited to see what’s next. Thank you God for your grace and for never giving up on me.”

From the wording of that apology, and others Bieber made, it is clear he was very specific about what he apologized for.

Roll forward to April, the “Where Are Ü Now” singer gave an interview to the British Hero magazine. Bieber said he hoped “people felt the sincerity in my apologies,” adding that he felt “a responsibility to my fans and to the public who believe in me to make it right. I hope everyone believed it — because it was honest.”

It’s possible — even likely — that some critics will seize on Bieber’s clarification with WWD and misread it as an attempt to deny his previous mea culpas.

But, to most reasonable people who have experienced their own “dark nights of the soul” as youngsters, or older, without being expected to apologize publicly to millions of people they have never met or personally affected, they may appreciate Bieber’s reframing of his apologies to taking “responsibility” as his most sincere statement and realistic sign of self-awareness and growth to date.

To read the full Women’s Wear Daily interview, which covered other topics including social media bullying, Bieber’s plans to design menswear, and his Zoolander 2 cameo, click this link.

[Images via Jason Capobianco/WWD]