Throughout his glorious career, Justin Bieber has often been in the headlines. From his questionable behavior and social media posts to controversial remarks, the Love Yourself singer has been in the spotlight various times for the wrong reasons. One incident that brought him intense backlash came back in 2015 during An Acoustic Evening With Justin Bieber at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. While performing at the event, Bieber made a controversial comment about underage girls , later admitting that he crossed the line.
During the event, Bieber was met with a loud cheer when he asked, “Who’s 13 in here? We got any 13 year olds?” He then asked, “We got any 14-year-olds?” He then began counting his fingers and said, “Uh, so … 14, 15, 16, 17. Four more years until you’re 18.” According to E! News , Bieber seemed to be jokingly suggesting how long he’d have to wait to date the young girls. However, he didn’t let the comment slide—he later called himself out for crossing the line. He said, “Too much, Justin.” The crowd present there continued to cheer for him but he faced intense backlash on the internet for this comment.
In the comment section of a YouTube video of the incident, fans made their feelings about Bieber’s comment more than clear. One person commented, “He thinks he can get anyone… nope!” Similarly, someone else called him ‘gross.’ But there were some fans who claimed that Bieber was merely joking and that there was no need to be so harsh on the singer. For instance, an individual quipped, “It’s a joke its funny.”
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Similarly, people on Reddit also made their opinions known. One user observed, “Male heartthrobs used to be coached to say shit like this to give their fans hope they’d end up with them, this is nothing compared to what all the boybands did back in the day. It’s just a different world now where we are aware of how f-cked up it is.”
A different user, with more empathy for Bieber, noted, “I so want to be critical of this statement but you have to keep in mind it’s the same guy who was sexualised at 14 (I think) and probably heard the ‘X more years and you’re 18’ phrase very frequently from creepy older ladies. Teenaged boys are still made to believe if older women making a pass at you, you are lucky that someone wants to screw you. The video clip is indeed pedophilic but we as a society failed. We still don’t teach our teenagers well.”
However, this wasn’t the only time Bieber found himself in trouble over his statements. In a past interview, a 16-year-old Bieber was asked to weigh in on some political and social issues. As one might expect from a teenager, his responses were improper and sparked controversy. He was talking about abortion when he said, “I really don’t believe in abortion. It’s like killing a baby.” As reported by People , considering the cases of rape, he said, “Um. Well, I think that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don’t know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”
Meanwhile, in yet another controversial incident, in 2014, in a clip, Bieber sings, “There’ll be one less lonely n***” and adds “If I kill you, I’ll be part of the KKK.” He faced backlash for his racist comments. He later apologized giving out a statement about the video. As reported by The Things , he said, “As a young man, I didn’t understand the power of certain words and how they can hurt. 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.”
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These days, Bieber’s life has been comparatively drama-free—except for his ties to the controversial rapper Sean “P Diddy” Combs. During Bieber’s early career, Combs’ influence played a major role. Acting as a mentor, Combs gave Bieber access to the behind-the-scenes world of the music industry, shaping his image as a budding superstar. With Combs’ lavish lifestyle and powerful connections—Usher and other music giants among them—he helped guide Bieber’s transformation from a YouTube sensation into a global pop sensation, as reported by HELLO Magazine .