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Justin Bieber Apologizes (Again) For The Racially Insensitive Person He No Longer Is

Published on: June 5, 2014 at 2:00 PM
By Page Mackinley

Justin Bieber has apologized again after he and his team released a video of the then 14-year-old singing an N-word, KKK-mentioning parody of “One Less Lonely Girl” as “One Less Lonely N*****’ after years of dreading its exposure. The singer says : “At the end of the day, I just need to step up and own what I did.”

Justin Bieber has stopped running. From extorters past and present, from tabloids and wider press, public condemnation and perhaps his own.

Hours after the Wednesday edition of the UK’s The Sun tabloid expertly teased the headline “Bieber’s sick new Klu Klux Klan N-word video” while the world’s collective imagination went into overdrive, Justin and his team released the clip to TMZ before The Sun later added it to their report.

The clip showed a 14-year-old Justin singing a version 0f his Usher-penned 2009 hit “ One Less Lonely Girl ” as a now vastly devolved “ One Less Lonely N***** “, with N-words aplenty and one reference to the white supremacist group, the Klu Klux Klan.

TMZ stated Justin wanted to take responsibility and own his mistake.

The website also revealed the singer and his team had been hit with an shakedown attempt as recently as two months ago, by a man who had obtained a copy of another video of the then 15-year-old telling a racist joke about black people and chainsaws which used the N-word .

Bieber’s team refused to deal and that first video was published by The Sun last Sunday.

Justin and his team released an earnest apology within hours that same day, writing:

“As a kid, I didn’t understand the power of certain words and how they can hurt.” The singer added that he was sorry for his “reckless and immature mistake” and “offending or hurting anyone.”

Now, after the release of the five-year-old “ One Less Lonely N*****” video, Bieber has made his second apology in four days.

Speaking to The Sun in their Thursday edition, Bieber said:”Facing my mistakes from years ago has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with. But I feel now that I need to take responsibility for those mistakes and not let them linger.”

The singer continued: “I just hope that the next 14-year-old kid who doesn’t understand the power of these words does not make the same mistakes I made years ago.”

Justin concluded: “At the end of the day I just need to step up and own what I did,” adding, “Once again, I am sorry for all those I have let down and offended.”

Underlining his apology , Justin later took to his social media accounts to tweet an Instagram post of two Bible texts from the book of John and one from Isaiah, that are about forgiveness and receiving salvation through God.

“One less lonely n*****,” and the phrase “If I kill you, I’ll be part of the KKK , there will be one less lonely n*****.”

Were the words sung by the 14-year-old Justin in his latest video racist?

Sure. Racist as hell.

In the time when Bieber said them and for as long as he believed it was acceptable to say them.

Is the parody a sign of a “devastating reality… [of]… the real Justin,” that other “Normal kids in society do not make..?”

Who are you kidding, The Sun editorial?

It’s quite clear from the clip that the child Justin had no idea of the full impact of what he was singing. TMZ reports that at the time Bieber was copying a parody he had seen a comedian perform of “ One Less Lonely Girl ” using the N-word. The site added his mentor Usher later showed the singer videos explaining America’s race history.

But isn’t part of the problem that we are so irrational about racism and race that we can’t look at a five-year-old video of Bieber and say:

“Not cool, but that was then, and you’re clearly not a racist now and may not necessarily have been to any great extent then?”

For generations kids have tested limits, the taboos we instill in them and the casual racism we don’t want to look at in ourselves. Then we wonder why kids find those limits exotic and want to challenge and play with them, and see if they bounce.

No-one here is denying the historical weight of the N-word, that in one sense concentrates the distilled barbarism of slavery into just one term. Ditto for the Tennessee-originated Klu Klux Klan, whose cowardly reigns of terror affected thousands.

But did you any of you hear anything approaching a coherent train of thought about race or racism in the 14-year-old Bieber’s gerbil-fast, giggly version of “One Less Lonely N*****? ”

Because what I heard was typical reaction/attention seeking behavior that many kids in that awkward 12-17 period show, especially boys without a constant, steady, male presence in their lives.

As a child to young teen, Bieber’s every move was followed by cameras at the behest of his team back in the good old days when the world couldn’t get enough of him.

At that time, while adjusting to the dizzying grip of fame, Justin’s father was far less present in his son’s life than he is now. Small wonder that Bieber acted up for the lens and remained stuck in a phase of immaturity perhaps longer than other children.

The Improper notes: “Justin probably picked up his racist tendencies from sources outside of his personal experience.”

“African-Americans only make up 2.5 percent of the Canadian population — according to recent census figures. So it’s unlikely Justin rubbed shoulders with many, if any, black kids in his youth.”

But it’s also clear that once Bieber began living in America he formed strong friendships with numerous African-Americans, and in so doing all that low-level, casual racism that billions of us engage in — whether in thought, word or deed — just fell away.

Young Money President Mack Maine, said of the singer: “Justin has legitimately adopted the culture of the hip-hop, African American culture.”

As the backlash from Bieber’s racial slur videos continues to ripple from the weekend and beyond it will likely drastically change people’s perceptions of Bieber, whose public image has already been damaged by a 15 month run of incidents, accusations, dubious claims — and latterly legal troubles.

But is it logical or fair to judge the 20-year-old Bieber for racist remarks of yesteryear?

Bieber was 14 and 15 when he made racially insensitive comments.

In comparison, Donald Sterling was 80. Paula Deen, 67.

The difference between those numbers is why we can, and should, move on. Because that racially unaware version of Bieber no longer exists.

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