Justin Bieber has been “non-stop crying” after the video clips of him making racist comments surface.
According to the Daily Mail, a source close to the singer says the 20-year-old is in a dark place.
“Justin's been in tears. But he knows he needs to take responsibility for his actions, he's confronting his past and he's hanging out with his real friends and his parents.”
Bieber’s reputation took a serious beating this week when two video clips surfaced of him, as a 14-year-old, making jokes about killing n*****s with a chainsaw, joining the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan, and changing the words of his song One Less Lonely Girl to sing “one less lonely n*****”.
Gossip site TMZ is believed to have purchased the video clips three years ago.
According to the Daily Mail’s source, the release of the footage was “almost a relief” for the Bieber camp, who were aware that the footage was in TMZ’s possession. The clips were rumoured to have been stolen as Bieber was filming his first movie, Never Say Never.
The source claims that, having apologised to has fans, Bieber is trying to get his life back on track.
“Justin seems to have ditched the problem people around him and he's trying to pull himself together. He's cleaning himself up.”
There’s no word as to who the problem people are, but the word emanating from the Bieber camp is that the singer’s friends Lil Za and Lil Twist - his ever present companions during his dope smoking and drag racing spree - are considered bad influences.
Meanwhile, Bieber’s mentor Usher is believed to have shown the young star old racist videos to educate him about the horrors of the past. Several black celebrities, including Will Smith and rapper Lil Wayne have rallied around the singer, saying that he isn’t racist.
But a source quoted in British newspaper The Sun, soon after the first clip was aired, seemed to hint that the Bieber public persona was all just a facade.
“Unfortunately this is the devastating reality of how Justin has behaved and reveals his attitude toward such a deeply emotive subject.
“People need to see this. Normal kids in society do not make these kind of jokes. He is protected by a network of staff, but the camera doesn’t lie.”