This weekend a video of Justin Bieber using the N-word surfaced.

Though he was urged not to tell the joke, the "Baby" singer went on to use the word repeatedly as part of the punch line.

Now, the singer has come out and apologized for the video, which shows him as a 15-year-old.

"As a kid, I didn't understand the power of certain words and how they can hurt," he said. "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. 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."

He said that he takes friendship with people of different cultures very seriously. Mostly, he blamed the issue on the fact that he was a kid, but he says that as a man he knows his responsibility.

TMZ said that it had the footage years ago, but it decided not to run it because of Justin Bieber's age. Also, because in the video, he admitted it was stupid. This part was not included in the video released.

Bieber has had two prominent black celebrities defend him.

First, Floyd Mayweather took to Twitter to say he supports Bieber.

"Justin has been nothing but kind to me, my daughter and sons over the years," he said. "We all make mistakes when we are young, it's part of growing up. I am proud of what he's doing as a 20-year-old musician and business man."

Then, Soulja Boy also said he's not upset with Bieber. He said that it's not fair to hold him accountable for something he said at 15 and that he doesn't believe that the singer is racist.

Related