Justin Bieber Apologized For Praising Morgan Wallen's Album, Saying That It Brings Back "Painful Memories" Of His Own Past Ignorance
Justin Bieber was not aware of Morgan Wallen's racist comments when he shared his praise of the country music singer's album Dangerous: The Double Album earlier today.
In early February, a video from TMZ surfaced of Morgan shouting the N-word. After his label contract was indefinitely suspended and his music was pulled from country radio, he took to YouTube to apologize.
In the video apology, he claimed that the footage of him saying the N-word was captured "on hour 72 of 72 of a bender, and that’s not something I’m proud of." He also told his fans to not defend him, and said the onus is on him to take ownership of his wrongdoing.
Recently, Justin posted a screenshot of Morgan's song "Sand in My Boots" to his Instagram story, with the caption, "Love this album."
@justinbieber shows his love for @MorganWallen's album via ig stories 💖
Justin's followers quickly pointed out Morgan's racist past, with user @bizzlexfenty commenting on Instagram, "I'm so upset that Justin is supporting Morgan's music. Everything was going well and he ruined it with that."
Justin Bieber has deleted his Instagram story and apologizes for posting it:“honestly i had no idea he was saying those racist things, i deleted it, I’m sorry :(“
In response, Justin wrote, "Honestly, I had no idea he was saying those racist things, I deleted it, I'm sorry :(."
Justin also took down the Instagram story, adding two more slides of his commentary on the situation. He wrote, "I had no idea that the guy's music I posted was recently found saying racist comments. As you know, I don't support or tolerate any sort of racism or discrimination. I had no idea, I sincerely apologize to anyone I offended."
The music star also reflected on his own complicity in racism: "When I was a kid, I was incredibly ignorant and said some very hurtful racist jokes that clearly were not funny. I hurt a lot of people, especially the Black people in my life, but was fortunate enough to have had them educate me on the horrifying origin of the N-word."
Back in 2014, a four-year-old video resurfaced of Justin using the N-word as the punchline of a racist joke. The 27-year-old has also come under fire as recently as this April for donning locs, a traditional Black hairstyle.
"This brings those painful memories back up," he continued in his Instagram story. "I will always take ownership for my ignorance and my past because I know I am not that person. I know that I have apologized for this before, but knowing that this is such a sensitive issue, I believe it's important to bring this up to hopefully educate people who may be ignorant to the topic of racism and how hurtful it is."
"I have so much more to learn, and I'm grateful to my Black brothers and sisters for being patient with me as I have a long way to go," he added in a final slide.
