Story highlights
Website TMZ has posted a new video of singer Justin Bieber
In the video, a then 14-year-old Justin sings the "N-word"
Source says Bieber was corrected by his mentor, Usher
Another racially insensitive video featuring Justin Bieber has surfaced.
On Wednesday, the site TMZ posted a video of a then 14-year-old Bieber changing the words to his hit “One Less Lonely Girl” to include the “N-word” and singing about joining the Ku Klux Klan.
A source close to Bieber confirms to CNN that the singer was 14 at the time of the incident and made the recording after he saw a comedian parodying his “One Less Lonely Girl” song online.
In the parody, the comic replaced some of the lyrics with racist words including “n*****,” the source said.
In Bieber’s video, he sings “There’ll be one less lonely n*****” and adds “If I kill you, I’ll be part of the KKK.”
The source close to the singer added that the teen immediately realized his error and and told his mentors, singer Usher and actor Will Smith, about the video. Usher, who wrote “One Less Lonely Girl,” showed Bieber some historically racist videos in an effort to teach him about the hurtful nature of such words, the source said.
Now 20, Bieber reportedly wants to take full responsibility for his youthful actions.
This latest video comes just days after Bieber apologized for another video in which the pop star, then 15, is seen making a racist joke.
In that video, which was also posted on TMZ, Bieber asks, “Why are black people afraid of chain saws?” before answering his own question with the statement “Run n*****, n*****, n*****, n*****,” imitating the sound of a chain saw.
“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 realize at the time that it wasn’t funny and that in fact my actions were continuing the ignorance,” Bieber said in a statement after the release of the first video.
“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.”
The source said that over the years, there have been various extortion attempts made with people demanding money from Bieber to not surface the videos.
CNN’s Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.
