Bieber Apologizes... Again

The Justin Bieber racist video scandal continues. After the first video, in which Bieber told a racist joke with a punchline that included the n-word was released on Sunday, Bieber apologized saying that he was a kid at the time and that he's since learned his lesson. Then, on Tuesday, another video was released which featured Bieber singing an extremely racist version of "One Less Lonely Girl" which left us wondering if Bieber would apologize for a second time or if the first statement was meant to cover any future videos. But now, Justin Bieber has apologized again and this time he's released an official statement to Us Weekly.

The latest apology reads,

Facing my mistakes from years ago has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with, but I feel now that I need to take responsibility for those mistakes and not let them linger. I just hope that the next 14-year-old kid who doesn’t understand the power of these words does not make the same mistakes I made years ago. At the end of the day I just need to step up and own what I did.

Bieber's claim that he needs to "step up" and own what he did comes soon after reports that Bieber and his team decided to reject an extortion attempt from someone who worked on one of Bieber's video projects and stole the controversial footage. The person allegedly asked for $1 million dollars in order to keep the video a secret, but was turned down even when the price was reduced to $500,000. It has also beem reported that TMZ had their own copy of the videos for years and had been using it as blackmail to get Bieber to make appearances and provide information. TMZ posted their copies after The Sun published their own clips.

As for whether or not this apology is the end of the scandal for Bieber, it's impossible to know. Page Six reports that there is 15 to 20 minutes more racist footage out there that has not yet surfaced, but even without that, questions about whether or not Bieber's actions should be excused because of his age at the time or his apologies will no doubt continue to arise.