<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"&lt;img alt=\"0601-justin-bieber-tmz-01\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2014/06/01/0601-justin-bieber-tmz-4.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Justin Bieber&lt;/strong&gt; is apologizing for telling a racist joke when he was 15 ... blaming it partly on his age.&amp;#160;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Justin tells TMZ, \"As a kid, 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.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Justin goes on, \"Thanks to friends and family I learned from my mistakes and grew up and apologized for those wrongs. Now that these mistakes from the past have become public I need to apologize again to all those I have offended.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Justin continues, \"I'm very sorry. 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.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=\"float: right;\"&gt;&lt;!-- relatedpoll --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And Justin says, \"Ignorance has no place in our society and I hope the sharing of my faults can prevent others from making the same mistake in the future. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say but telling the truth is always what's right.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Justin ends with this: \"Five years ago I made a reckless and immature mistake and I'm grateful to those close to me who helped me learn those lessons as a young man. Once again....I'm sorry.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;{{tmz_video_0}}"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2014/06/01/justin-bieber-racist-joke-apology/3/>