A “new” video of Justin Bieber has surfaced, and it features a 15-year-old Biebs telling a racist joke about black people. Am I surprised? No. Justin’s trying to look cool in front of his “crew” as he asks why black people are afraid of chainsaws. He then makes chainsaw noises and drops the n-word five times. We won’t publish the video, but you can see it on YouTube. The Sun broke the news and says Team Swag is very upset: “This video is Justin Bieber and his camp’s worst nightmare. Even after the year he’s had, when he’s never been far from controversy, this tops the lot.”
Will this video affect Justin’s career at all? I don’t know. People are used to him doing really dumb things all the time. Stuff like getting busted sneaking out of a brothel, cussing out cops when he got arrested, whining like a baby during depositions, and making his fans cry. His legion of Beliebers isn’t growing, and many of them have grown out of their fandom. Will this video be the nail in the Swaggy coffin? Justin reportedly tried to purchase the video to keep it out of circulation, so he must be worried. He always thinks he is the victim, you know? TMZ says Bieber is “frustrated and sad” over the video’s release.
As I’m finishing up this post, Bieber’s camp has issued a public statement on the matter to TMZ. Mr. Saggy Pants totally did not write this all by himself. I doubt he even read this letter before TMZ saw it:
“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.
“Five years ago I made a reckless and immature mistake and I’m grateful to those close to me who helped me learn those lessons as a young man. Once again….I’m sorry.”
[From TMZ]
According to this letter, “Bieber” partially blames his racist words on young age. I think that’s a crap excuse, but the rest of the apology is very well-written. Bieber can’t even string two words together on Twitter, so we know he didn’t write this. Team Swag put in some serious overtime this weekend to help their boy. Characterizing Bieber’s joke as “ignorance” could help people forgive Bieber for acting like a racist d-bag, but I’m not buying it. Do you accept this apology?
Photos courtesy of WENN
Sadly, this will not do anything to his career and will be forgotten promptly. Because nothing ever seems to hurt this douchebag. Ugh.
Exactly, it should, but it won’t he’s like a cockroach you can’t get rid off.
yes. teflon douchebag. sh$i just slides off of him. ugh.
I kind of feel the same way. 🙁 If his actions before this haven’t killed his career, nothing will. Short of the little douche actually killing someone (which sadly wouldn’t even surprise me at this point).
What career is that exactly? If you mean his career of being a downhill-sliding teeny-pop singer that’s already in a world of hurt. If you’re talking about his career of being a douchebag stoner with a posse of yes-men grifters, it won’t matter 🙂
Sounds just like Lindsay Lohan.
I’m still wondering why TMZ sat on the video for so long. They say its because of his age, but I don’t think that’s the case. If it were any other 15 year old, they would have gone to press. But, then they feed off him, even when there’s nothing but bone. i.e. the drag racing story, where he wasn’t drag racing or even driving fast. the whole egging story.
We can only hope. This little pillock’s 5 minutes were up a looong time ago.
@Kath – I’m hoping he goes the way of Lady Gaga. I’m sure we can all remember the tour de force that was Gaga 2-3 years ago. And now? I have no idea what she’s been up to. It’s like she came and went. She took some time out of the spotlight due to an injury but she could never quite come back. Hopefully the same can be said of Justin. I don’t remember the last time he had a hit. If the next album/single doesn’t perform well, it’s safe to say he’s over. His fans are young and kids/teens move on very quickly.
That’s what I am hoping too. My nieces who are 15 and 16 certainly outgrew him long ago and are somewhat embarrassed that they even liked him at all. They also say that they do not know anyone who actually likes him anymore – none of the “cool” kids anyway. He has his small rabid group of followers, which seem to grow smaller all the time. I cannot even remember the last time that I heard a Bieber song on the radio.
Gaga is on a world tour getting rave reviews.
his poor PR people. i hope he’s paying them a king’s ransom to mop up his doo-doo day in day out (perhaps, some days… literally too)
I’m sure Usher is delighted with his swaggy protege now.
Exactly what I thought.
Dick.
Would like to think this is the final nail in the coffin of unacceptable behaviour…but I doubt it.
A very similar scenario happened to Eminem – a tape recording was leaked containing a racist statement from when he was a teenager, about a girl he liked who had chosen to date an African-American guy instead. His explanation and apology was similar, and I don’t see it mentioned much any more.
Actually, the girl Eminem dated was black, and he made negative comments about black women in general, never using any slurs. I’m no Eminem fan but my husband is, and I think that Em’s apology was considerably better. He has a song about it in which he apologizes without qualifications and tries to explain himself.
This^
I think Em’s deal was a bit different. Im a huge Stan and I can tell you what was said and written was done out of hurt by a man scorned, not racism. His issues with women are pretty much universal and not limited to a race, he’s always bashed all women equally..lol.
besides that, Em actually has mad talent whether you’re into his stuff or not, you can’t deny his talent with the pen and a beat. he also has a far larger and diverse fan base than some teen kid that will wear out once his fans grow out of that teen stage. Em has one of the most loyal fan bases than any artist out there. Hard to tell for some b/c they havent been around that long and I doubt they will be but Em’s fans will probably still be by him and listening to him even when the time comes when he isnt putting any new stuff out.
So you’re saying that as long as you are a fan, you find the situation in which it happened acceptable, and the apology better written, then it is understandable/forgivable/ok? Doesn’t this sound like a bit of a double standard? Justin’s African American bodyguard defended him on twitter and said he absolutely isn’t a racist. Does that make it better?
Not a fan of either of them, so I’m not seeing the nuance here.
Justin really is a revolting little twerp. Eminem has said and done some notably stupid stuff but has great talent that means he has been around long enough to grow up and rethink. I can’t see a 40 year old repentant Justin being in the public eye but then who can predict pop, the ones you think will last don’t, and vice versa
Nothing will hurt his career until his fans will grow up. They keep him alive and take his side no matter what.
He has done so many unbelievable things that this is just another one on the list. This tells you a lot about how stupid he his though… Usher and LA Reid started his career and I hope they’re proud of him now.
He is an asshole and hopefully soon the world will forget about him.
His “apology” was clearly written by a PR manager or lawyer, but definitely NOT written by Justin. And it’s clear that the angle of this apology was just to write the whole thing off as a youthful indiscretion and ignorance. I don’t buy it. It’s not like Justin Bieber grew up in another generation where the N word was an accepted part of the common vernacular. It was only 5 years ago! But, according to “Justin’s” apology, that was long ago when he was just a kid. Now, he says, he’s a “man.” A man who pees in buckets and throws eggs at his neighbor’s house, but yeah – he’s a “man” now.
He is completely disgusting, the entitled little d-bag. I also hold his parents accountable for being TERRIBLE parents. I have a 15 year old and he’s always known any type of slur os absolutely unacceptable.
Bad parenting by ignorant idiots who used their kid as a meal ticket but didn’t bother with raising him to be a decent human being.
My first thought was that of course this will hurt his career but, those fans of his are so strange I don’t know.
he didn’t understand how saying the ‘n’ word might be upsetting? at 15? He’s either the worst liar or a complete idiot.
I suspect he’s both though
Yeah – I didn’t get that rationale at all! I think he is both an idiot and a liar.
Yeah, 15 isn’t 7 or 10 years old.
I havent watched the video, but Lainey implied you can hear his mom laughing in the background and suggesting he change it from a chainsaw to a motorcyle to make it funnier.
unfortunately I dont see this hurting him with the few teen fans he still has left. Im sure their parents may be outraged but I cant see 13-15 yr olds getting up in arms over it and thats pretty much all he has in the terms of fans. His fanbase will stick by him until they move onto the next teen throb.
That said, I dont think he’s ‘aging well’ in the looks dept. I mean, I dont think his ‘cute boy’ looks are going to last much longer. his doucheyness is showing thru on his face more than ever and I think THATS what will kill the last of his fan base.
As far as his fans and supporters goes this won’t affect them. They all blamed Lil Twist for his behavior the past couple of years so they’ll just blame his age for this video. His fanbase is already shrinking because it’s 12 year old girls. Eventually it will disappear like it does for a lot of teen idols.
Coincidently as a teacher I just had to deal with one of students using the n-word. So I stopped the whole class and I simply asked her if she knew what the term meant and where it came from- she didn’t. I find racism really hard to deal with and I am white! In this day and age of multiculturalism how can people be so ignorant?
Btw- I work in a country high school. Most of the kids a white and have no problem using racist terms. A shock to me, a city girl who has mixed race children of her own.
I live outside a major city in a small country town. I personally have found less racism and more outrage at racial slurs in my small town than when I go into the city.
I grew up in a sheltered society. Unfortunately it is so common in these places. Because kids don’t have friends of different backgrounds, they, most of the time, don’t get it. I was lucky enough to have my family educate me on racism. Most of my friends that I kept in touch later understood how offensive they had been after they met people of different backgrounds in universities or work places.
I am not going to defend JB (Yuck). I have no idea what kind of community he was raised in nor do I care. But racism can be made because of ignorance. And I hope it was his reason in this instance.
It also doesn’t help when the people themselves (black people) don’t understand the meaning of the word either. To them, it’s just another word that they throw around…..but only fifty years ago, it’s what they would’ve been answering to.
I do kind of get where JB is coming from. I hate to say it, but teenagers think that kind of crap is COOL. I remember a few years ago, going to my little brother’s elementary school to pick him up–a couple of white, preteens (like twelve year olds) were calling each other the n-word. As like a term of endearment. I wouldn’t find it hard to believe that one of his dumbass friends told him the ‘joke’ (black or white), and he repeated it….and they laughed. Because they thought it was funny.
Reminds me of an episode from Justified–where Raylan and Rachel go to arrest/talk to this white guy who collects Civil War/Confederacy guns, etc….his girlfriend is black, and when they asked her if she was okay with it–she told them that she makes sure he doesn’t shoot the gun in the house. Didn’t even phase her.
I agree with you Virgilia. I have a 15 yr old son, and though he’s a very smart kid book wise, if I were to list the catalog of stupid things he has done since those hormones kicked in, we’d be here all day. I would be disgusted if Justin were to tell that joke now, but at 15? Bad judgement comes with the territory.
Hopefully your educating her, and the whole class, will have an impact on them and change how they think about it, and what they teach their own kids someday.
This makes me so sad, but not necessarily shocked. I, too, have mixed race children, and the snide remarks that I have encountered at times makes my blood boil. I want to protect my children from everything bad and every harsh word. It is hard to deal with, especially the ignorance – and I live in a large city too.
I am just sickened when celebrities, who have such a loud voice in social media and influence with their fans (especially the younger ones like Bieliebers) say such things and just blame it on their youth. I don’t want to hear an apology written by a publicist. How about a truly, contrite, non-rehearsed speech on video? Though I wonder if he even knows how to be truly sorry with all his yes people around him.
*Not just picking on Bieber. I mean all celebrities who do this sort of thing. They should know better. I’m a little sensitive, after my husband and I went out to eat with our children yesterday and the hostess waited on every white couple around us, completely ignoring our presence. I left an angry note in the comment section and we left.
I’m sorry about what happened to you. It is such a big problem that nobody cares about. I don’t think most kids who say these things are racist. They are generally sheltered and their families don’t bother with teaching them. This is sad because when a kid is not educated about this, all they have is tv and cinema where many stereotypes are used.
I grew up in a really multicultural area, and it was for a time the city with the highest number of new immigrants in the country after Toronto. I don’t know if that is the case now. It is a traditionally German town, quite Europe-ish, I am told (you never see your hometown as do others). The really big boom came in the ’80s and there was a hjuge influx of refugees (everyone remembers Band-Aid and the Killing Fields) and that population added to the children of the domestic workers who eventually left Toronto to go there.
Well, I did say that it is a traditionally German town, right? It was called Berlin until WWI came around and the fashion to slough off descriptors that sounded a little bit too Teutonic swept up the city to be politically expedient. And then there was the other war. There was a second war and this still very German town started filling up with…um…well…Nazis. Yup, my hometown became a haven for war criminals and that the white supremacist groups. And the whole world found out about this Nazi paradise. It was on 60 Minutes! Hm. So, how do you think the Nazis responded to all of their new neighbours. Clearly, anyone who thinks who thinks Canada isn’t racist hasn’t been chased by a skinhead or help scrub a swastika off a synagogue wall. I’ve experienced both: that’s diversity.
Yes, 60 Minutes. Someone, not the residents because that was hidden from us knew that there were some war criminals in our town and kept it hidden for like…50 years. And I mean full-on, international warrant for the arrest war criminals. It was discovered and because people are fuckwits, a bunch said, ‘Aw, well, he’s old now, what’s the point?’ And there was actually a big to-do about it. Of course the immigrant populations and the people who weren’t auditioning to be Lucifer’s Cup-Bearer had a big problem. ‘Oh, but he was just a translator’–yeah, for the Nazis. So, that got our town a lot of attention. Anyway, they were finally shamed into tossing the rat into a hole back home in Germany. He must be dead by now, he was already into his eighties by then, having been able to lead his nice comfy Nazi life for decades.
Anyway, this demon’s name was Helmut Oberlander.
And this went down in 1995. You can see how the transition for the new immigrants wasn’t so smooth. And then there’s the treatment of the First Nations BEYOND which is beyond shameful. You think our ‘wonderful’ Prime Minister gives a crap about those 1200 women? If anyone had bothered had bothered to listen to the reports about all of women going missing in the same area we wouldn’t even know the name ‘Picton’. But this is the country that responds to an outtbreak’s request for medical supplies by sending body bags, so…
So today, Canada is plenty racist, it’s just that the way goes about it is usually more quiet, enabling and ultimately complicit way than in the States…until you bring up the Afrocentric school.
Shoot, what happened to message? Always. Anyway, you can come from areas that aren’t homogeneous and hear all of that stuff and the the kids will know exactly what they’re doing, that’s why they do it.
Huh my first thought was Justin didn’t write this. I also doubt he is sorry he is sorry it’s been released but I doubt he truly understands what he did wrong cause he is an idiot. I hope this is yet another part of his downfall we really don’t need this kid he can’t sing and has no talent whatsoever. His fans have grown up so he should start putting some of his cash away that rainy day will come sooner then he thinks. What happened to his rap career?
IT’D BETTER.
“I am a man now.” Oh really?
God I’d hope so but no 🙁
I agree. Although I think inevitably he will kill his career.
It really bothers me that people are giving him a pass because he was younger and because it was a joke, that comedians tell. The other justification people are throwing out there is “He mostly hangs with black friends”.
Bottom line his career should suffer the way anyone else’s would.
As IF am anyone would buy he wrote that statement. Please!
The “S/he has black friends” excuse is common in defending those who’ve been caught making racist remarks. Sociologist Robert K. Merton describes why this is nonsense in this article: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~bmori/syll/316syll/Merton.html
It should kill his career but probably won’t. PaulaDeen was crucified for her racism and that Sterlig guy has been as well. So Justin SHOULD have his ass handed to him but since we live in a world of hypocrisy, he won’t.
Whether it will hurt his career is anyone’s guess, what I don’t get is why the need to record garbage like that? Whether you are a celebrity or not, unless you have the actual photos or videos in your possession and have not shared them with other people, be prepared for the chance of it ending up on Facebook, Instgram etc.
Friendships and relationships may end and the person who you cared for you today may despise you tomorrow. Then guess what ends up online?
Beiber is a used doggy pickup bag, so this is just another mess for his public relations people to clean up
I don’t think this will hurt him much at all, his crazy fans will find a way to justify and explain this away.
The only good thing about Bieber is watching SNL’s Kate McKinnon do her version of him.
God you are right. Kate McKinnon is good, maybe too good at the toddler Beiber impersonation. I just love it that they have a female doing it rather than a man.
She is hilarious. She really knows how to do his horrible “sexy eye” stare !
Yes, that comment.
Seriously!
Idiot. That is all.
“All of his friends are black!” “He thinks he’s black!”
These were the two most common quotes I saw from his fans on Twitter and I just… am so sad for future generations.
His career is already on a serious downward swing, thanks to his ridiculous and awful behavior. Sooner or later some new kid or a new boy band will pop up and his fan base will forget all about him. Hopefully, anyway.
His career is already fairly gone…he’s so not cool in Aus teen circles. A large portion of his previous fan base have moved on well & truly.
“Five years ago I made a reckless and immature mistake”
Thank goodness he’s not reckless and immature anymore. 😉
Ha!! This ^
his reputation is in the toilet anyway. but i have problems holding it against a kid who has the bad luck that people sell him out like that. this was years ago when he was 15. at that age he thought it was cool. he always fashioned himself as this cool hoodrat, listening to music where using the N-word is cool. i dont think anyone should be using it, black rappers gave the N word a very cool touch. i see white kids rapping lines quite often, they dont think about it. they just want to copy their idols.
Isn’t that his mom’s voice when she’s talking about how a motorcycle makes the same sound? If so, what a shame…
*sigh* Another day, another idiot celeb spewing stupid comments. Sadly, I don’t think this will hurt him at all. He’ll use the term ‘mis-spoke’ or some other nonsense, as they all do when they’ve come down with a case of foot-in-mouth disease. When will it stop?
It would be so great if all his black buddies dumped him. Better yet, maybe they will beat his ass. We can only hope
Looks like they are defending him. His bodyguard (who is African American) took to Twitter and said unequivocally that justin is not a racist, and that he knows Justin’s heart. Personally, I don’t think he is a racist either – I think he is just incredibly foolish and ignorant. When are we going to move past using these words in any capacity? I just don’t get it.
I’m not an African American, so I can’t comment on that experience. However, as a Jewish woman, I’ve heard plenty of jokes that could definitely be called anti-semetic. Here’s the irony: I hear them from other Jews more than anyone. But my point is that telling a stupid Jewish joke doesn’t make them automatically an anti-Semite. If they show a pattern of anti-semitism, then that is a different story. As for justin, I apply the same criteria. One joke doesn’t make him automatically a racist – a pattern of racist behavior does, and I don’t see that here.
His career is such a deep ditch, and he’s been trying hard to redeem himself (that half million he just donated to charity has been knocked out of the headlines nicely), so this just seems like a witch hunt. I mean, if TMZ didn’t use it five years ago…
Granted, others may not agree, but that’s my logic. As for his career, I could really care less. I’m not his demographic anyway.
“Will This Hurt His Career?”
IF ONLY! :/
This is pretty terrible, but I don’t think it will have an effect. At this point, his more casual fans have outgrown him and parents know not to buy his music for their young children. The stans who are left will excuse anything. Hopefully they’ll eventually move on.
No surprise here! You know who’s next,miley cyrus. Just wait on it! They try way too hard,just be yourself.
The media decides who they will destroy and who will get a pass. I have a feeling Justin will get a pass. Sorry, but at 15 I knew what was racist and what was not. He knew what he was saying was wrong, you can see it in his face (not to mention the person who yelled “don’t say it, don’t say it !”. Who was the woman who chimed in about the “motorcycle”? I really hope that wasn’t his mom. If this is the kind of disgusting stuff he was willing to say in front of a camera, what was he saying when the cameras were off?
If this was five years ago, and he was a kid, yeah I’d forgive him. The big problem is he clearly hasn’t matured one bit. If he acted classy now and like an adult I’d say you know he was 13 or whatever at the time (I’ve not clue how old he is now … 18 … 19?). But considering his behavior and the fact this is clearly written by his team … not a chance. Who cares. Hopefully he will fade away … he is not in the teen bopper phase anymore and he can’t possibly earn adult fans with the drivle he calls music but I’ve seen worst hang on like mold.
I’ve known since I was a small child not to be racist, use racist words or tell racist jokes. So this kid thing is not a valid excuse. HIs parents should have done more to raise him, rather than use them as their ATM. This kid and his parents have major issues.
I agree with you but I still think all of us said and did things that were stupid when we were 12. I’m not excusing his behavior but it’s well known that at that age children and and teenagers don’t have full mental capacity and need guidance from adults. Depending on who he was hanging out with, it’s easy to be led astray. Like I said, if he’d grown up from that moment and actually wrote that apology I’d have excused his behavior but he hasn’t so I don’t. He will never grow up. I agree with you that his parents clearly have not done enough to teach him right from wrong.
I know. His parents are the worst enablers. His dad is completely using him and his mom seems to have her own issues going on with parenting. Hilarious that she wrote a parenting book. I would be mortified if I’d raised such an immature, disrespectful, narcissistic douchebag like this kid.
I believe he was 15, not 12.
Ok 5 years ago…the internet still existed, facebook existed, youtube existed, google existed. The world is technologically connected, so no one has the right to blame something on pure ignorance anymore. He knew what he was saying was wrong. he was told not to say it, but did anyways. The joke about Father’s day is ironic coming from a young man whose own father abandoned him up until he became rich and famous….he should know bad fathers come in all colors.
Good comment me – what is surprising is that with almost no talent, he has a “career” at all – he won’t even age well like Vanilla Ice – who is now a pretty good diy high end contractor.
His PR people wrote a nice statement.
I don’t think he’s racist now. He hangs with only black friends basically, and it’s been that way for the last few years. All of his friends come and go in his home and who he travels with, and they are black. So he’s not racist. But this isn’t going to help him break into the hip-hop music field. Not that I ever thought he would be able to pull in a more urban audience. It’s what he wants but he’s a tween girl popstar and he might as well face it.
At 15 he obviously was immature and made racist jokes and should be embarrassed by his behavior regarding that. Now he is just an immature douchebag who is 20 and rude to everyone. I think because he was 15 that it won’t hurt his career.
I don’t know if Justin is or isn’t racist, but there are plenty of people who are racist and hang out with people of the race they’re biased against (just as there are plenty of homophobes with gay friends and sexists with female friends).
I think it’s only right to say that Justin really doesn’t respect himself first, so in a way I understand his disrespect for everyone else. Maybe he jokes like that with his black friends. I think him and his friends are a bunch of low lives. They just are. In my opinion a lot of this comes down to integrity and class. That is to say that because he’s not a person with integrity and class that , includes all of his friends regardless of race, their doomed to repeat their blissful Asinine behaviors.
Actually I think Bieber’s career will be killed by the repeated Douchburger Specials with a Swaggy Shake on the side that he continually serves to the public.
Bieber’s such a bright light in the industry that I didn’t bother to respond to his nonsense until three in the morning.
Do you ever grab your forehead when seeing him hoping you won’t catch the eternal eyebrow thing that he has going on lol. > 😀