Pop Star Offers Apology After Embarrassing Five-Year-Old Video Surfaces: Ignorance Has 'No Place in Our Society

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

Justin Bieber (C) attends the Amber Lounge 2014 Gala at Le Meridien Beach Plaza Hotel on May 23, 2014 in Monaco, Monaco. (Image source: David M. Benett/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Bieber is apologizing after a years-old video surfaced showing the then-teenager telling a racist joke with the N-word.

In a statement Sunday to The Associated Press, Bieber said when he was a kid he didn't realize how certain words could hurt. He says he learned from his mistakes and apologized for them, and now is apologizing again because they have become public.

The British tabloid The Sun first published the video, which is five years old. In it, a then 15-year-old Bieber tells a joke about black people that has the racial epithet as the punchline. Before he says it, someone warns him not to — but he says it anyway amid laughter.

The 20-year-old Bieber says ignorance has "no place in our society" and he hopes that others won't make the same mistake that he has.