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Justin Bieberis retracting his support for controversial country singerMorgan Wallen.
On Wednesday, Biebershared a photo of Wallen’s albumDangerous: The Double Albumon his Instagram Story, writing: “Love this album.” The pop star, 27, quickly received backlash for giving the album a shoutout, in light of Wallen’suse of the N-wordearlier this year.
Shortly after, Bieber deleted the original slide and issued an apology on his Instagram Story, writing that he was unaware of the controversy.
In another slide, he continued, opening up about his own experiences.
“When I was a kid, I was incredibly ignorant and said some very hurtful racist jokes that were clearly not funny,” Bieber said. “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. This brings those painful memories back up, 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 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 a long way to go,” Bieber said.
Justin Bieber/Instagram
Back in February, Wallen, 28, was captured on video arriving at his house drunk after a night out.In the clip, he used a racial slurto describe one of his companions.
At the time, Wallen apologized, saying: “I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”
In July, he revealed during an interview onGood Morning Americathat he checked into a rehabilitation center after the incident.
“For 30 days, I spent some time out in San Diego, California, you know, just trying to figure it out … Why am I acting this way? Do I have an alcohol problem?” he said. “Do I have a deeper issue?”
Of the video, Wallen said he and his friends “say dumb stuff together” and “in our minds, it’s playful. That sounds ignorant, but that’s really where it came from, and it’s wrong.” Wallen also clarified he was “clearly drunk.”
RELATED VIDEO: Morgan Wallen Says There Are ‘No Excuses’ After Video Surfaces of Singer Using the N-Word
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Wallen also explained that since “there was a spike in my sales” for his album after the controversy made headlines, he and his team “tried to calculate … how much it actually spiked from this incident” and “got to a number somewhere around $500,000, and we decided to donate that money to some organizations,” including the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC).
Just a few days after hisGMAappearance, the embattled country singer appeared back on stage at a Luke Bryan concert alongside fellow country starsJason AldeanandFlorida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard. The four men took a shot of tequila together before Bryan, Aldean, and Hubbard sat down to give Wallen the spotlight.
The moment was Wallen’smost significant return to any stagesince the February scandal.
source: people.com
