Justin Bieber says he stands with Black Lives Matter

Although he’s not known for being a woke celebrity, Justin Bieber is at least a pretty charitable dude, having donated to the It Gets Better Project and the ACLU Of Southern California, among other organizations, throughout his career. And in one of the few public appearances he did make this year after canceling tour dates, the Purpose singer joined other celebrities at the Hand In Hand telethon that raised more than $44 million for people affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Is the Biebs, who recently tossed off a PG-13 ditty about ass and weed, having some kind of social awakening? That certainly seems to the case with his latest Instagram post, which is an image that reads “Black Lives Matter.”

In his photo caption, Bieber admits that as a “white Canadian,” he will never understand “what it feels like to be an African American,” but that he’s prepared to use his platform to “shine light on racism, because it’s a real thing and it’s more prevalent now than I have ever seen in my lifetime.” It’s unclear what brought on such a declaration from Canada’s enfant terrible—maybe it’s seeing Trump complain more about the peaceful protests by black athletes than rallies among armed white supremacists. Or maybe his “racism re-education,” which was implemented after he quoted/sang the n-word in an unofficial video, is just going well.

[via Rolling Stone]