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Justin Bieber: ‘I am inspired by black culture. I have benefited off of black culture’

Justin Bieber has spent much of his career gracelessly appropriating from black people and black artists. Justin isn’t alone there – he’s merely one profitable part of a larger music industry which operates on the appropriation of black music, black culture and black struggle. In Justin’s case, it’s all a particular mess because he also has a personal history of saying the n-word and saying tons of offensive sh-t about black people. But now Justin is sober (ish?) and with Jesus, and he’s been trying to be better. Last December, he even spoke about how ignorant and childish he was about racism when he was younger, and he apologized generally. Anyway, Bieber has some new stuff to say as Black Lives Matter protests go global.

“I am inspired by black culture. I have benefited off of black culture. My style, how I sing, dance, perform, and my fashion have all been influenced and inspired by black culture.”

“I am committed to using my platform from this day forward to learn, to speak up about racial injustice and systemic oppression, and to identify ways to be a part of much needed change.”

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[From Billboard]

I’ve been going back and forth about whether to praise him for this very obvious statement or just admit that I actually don’t give a sh-t. I mean, can’t it be both? He’s doing more than some artists and he’s doing a lot less than other artists. I’m glad white people are coming to Jesus on a lot of race and racism issues right now, but Justin speaking about his appropriation is like water announcing that it’s wet. All that being said, my favorite comment about this was “Justin Timberlake would never.”

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid, social media.