A video of professional asshat pop star, Justin Bieber, making a pretty tasteless and idiotic racist joke back when he was 15 (You can tell by the bowl haircut!) was posted at The Sun last night. Naturally, TMZ got a hold of it.
TMZ claims they got the video 4 years ago and decided not to post it because he was so young. Apparently, he immediately told his friends what he did was stupid. TMZ decided to post after The Sun leaked it over the weekend, behind a paywall.
I’m having a hard time being too outraged about it. Four years can make a big difference in a persons attitude. Although Justin’s antics in the past year or so point to him still being a jerk. It’s entirely possible that he’s no longer a racist jerk.
Well here’s the joke. It’s pretty lame.
Since the video hit the internets, Justin has issued an apology:
“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.”
“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 those I have offended.”
“I’m very sorry. 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.”
“Ignorance has no place in our society and I hope the sharing of my faults can prevent others from making the same mistake in the future. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say but telling the truth is always what’s right.”
All necessary talking point hit. Straightforward apology. Taking responsibility for mistakes. Assuring us he’s learned from them. Justin’s PR person has done good.
