Bieber apologises for “reckless mistake” after shocking video leak

Justin Bieber has apologised for his behaviour after a video was leaked in which he told a racist joke.

The pop star said he made a “reckless and immature mistake” and says he will never do it again.

In the clip, the now 20-year-old singer was filmed saying the N-word five times.

He asked,” Why are black people afraid of chainsaws?’ before making the noise of a chainsaw and adding, “Run n*****, n*****, n*****, n*****, n*****.”

In a statement released yesterday, Justin – who was 15 when the footage was taken – said, “As a young man, 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 realise 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 apologised for those wrongs. Now that these mistakes from the past have become public, I need to apologise again to all those I have offended,” he said.

“I’m very sorry. I take my friendships with people of all cultures very seriously and I apologise 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,” he added.

The clip was filmed as part of a tour documentary and Bieber’s team of publicists reportedly offered to buy it for a huge sum to keep it from being released.

The clip was met with a huge backlash on social media yesterday.

Writing on Twitter one of his fans said, “Bieber is actually disgusting. Man’s gone too far this time.”