When Justin Bieber was first introduced to the world, he had a sticky sweet image. Over time, however, Bieber’s image became more and more scandalous as he feuded with other stars and stormed out of interviews. Even once fans realized the music legend had a controversial side, it was still shocking when videos of him saying racist things surfaced.
After a pair of shockingly racist videos of Bieber went viral, the young singer’s career was quickly able to bounce back. If that scandal happened today, however, Bieber would be canceled and his career could be over forever.
Celebrities Whose Careers Have Been Ruined Over Racism
Over the last several years, one of the most hotly contested things in the world has been the so-called cancel culture. According to some people, cancel culture is the new McCarthyism and others believe it is long overdue accountability.
No matter where someone’s opinion might fall on that scale, the fact remains that cancel culture has destroyed several celebrity careers. In many of those cases, the star mostly disappeared from the spotlight after they were involved in a racism controversy.
A former celebrity chef, Paula Deen became a huge star who was raking in money hand over fist. After years of being a TV star and selling loads of cookbooks, it was exposed that Deen uttered the n-word and her career hit the skids.
It also is worth noting that after a video of Hulk Hogan using the n-word appeared online, he was removed from WWE’s television for months. Hogan also was kicked out of the WWE Hall of Fame for a while. However, after Hogan disappeared, he was later embraced by the WWE again. Still, many former fans want nothing to do with Hogan.
There is a very long list of other celebrities who lost their careers over racism scandals. Looking at how many reality stars were fired over racist statements or offensive social media posts simply is depressing.
There also have been several actors over the years who lost major roles over racial slurs. Considering that several musicians have had their racist statements exposed, it is clear that it is a scourge that infects all aspects of society
What Was Justin Bieber’s Racism Scandal?
When Justin Bieber was still a child, he started to gain a fan following on YouTube. Ultimately plucked out of relative obscurity, Bieber was thrust into the public eye and quickly had millions of devoted fans willing to fall at his feet.
When Bieber was given adoration, fame, and fortune as a child, he was still trying to figure out who he was as a person. When someone gets that much power at such a young age, that often is a recipe for disaster and controversy. Unfortunately for Bieber, his teen years and early 20s were full of one scandal after another.
Some of Bieber’s controversies include mistreating his neighbor, getting and abandoning a pet, and being busted with marijuana. Bieber also hoped Anne Frank would be a “belieber”, allegedly spit on fans, went to a brothel, got a DUI arrest, and peed in a nightclub’s mop bucket.
No matter how bad Bieber’s other controversies were, none of his fans were prepared for what was to come in 2014. At that time, a pair of videos that featured a then early-teens Bieber were published online to the disgust of most viewers.
In most cases where celebrities have been caught being offensive, they had no idea they were on camera. When Hulk Hogan was recorded being racist for example, he was being recorded on a hidden camera in an intimate moment.
Of course, being racist is horrible no matter if you know you are on camera or not. However, the thing that was really confusing about Bieber’s videos where he said racist things is he was speaking directly into a camera.
Considering that Bieber owes his entire music career to the power of home videos, it seemed shocking that he would record racist videos. After all, if anyone knows how powerful home videos can be, it should be Bieber.
Despite that, in one video, Bieber could be seen telling a racist joke directly to a camera. While Bieber’s joke is far too offensive to quote here, suffice it to say that the pop star said the n-word repeatedly.
In the second video, Bieber could be heard singing a racist version of his song “One Less Lonely Girl”. Again, the lyrics that Bieber sang are far too offensive to quote here. What is important is that Bieber sang the n-word repeatedly and referred to the Ku Klux Klan.
In a surprising turn, it was reported that TMZ got their hands on at least one of Bieber’s racist videos and didn’t release it. The reason for that is Bieber was still a child when they got the video and TMZ learned the pop star quickly regretted his words after the video was recorded. It also is worth noting that Bieber was still in his early teens when the videos were recorded.
Once the videos came out, Bieber released apologies for his racist comments. Bieber also took accountability for being a bratty teen in general around that time and seemed like he was trying to turn over a new leaf. Ultimately, Bieber was able to walk away from all his controversies with his career intact.
In recent years, Morgan Wallen was able to overcome the backlash after an n-word video of him was released. With that in mind, there is a chance that Bieber’s career could have survived if his videos first surfaced today. That said, given how quickly some stars get canceled these days, Bieber easily could have his career completely ruined if a racist scandal hit him now.
