Justin Bieber responds to backlash for featuring Martin Luther King's interlude in new album

Justin Bieber is facing backlash for his sixth studio album 'Justice' in which the singer has included an interlude from US civil rights icon Dr Martin Luther King. 

Bieber is a Canadian and faced criticism for the interlude as many felt MLK's interlude juxtaposed with a love ballad dedicated to the singer's wife Hailey Baldwin was inappropriate. 

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” King’s voice declares before Bieber continues with the love ballad '2 Much'- an ode to wife Hailey.

Midway through the album, there’s an 'MLK Interlude' featuring another clip from King urging people to be brave and 'stand up for justice,' no matter the consequences.

The interlude then leads into an 1980s inspired dance song titled 'Die For You'. 

Now, the 27-year-old singer has responded to the backlash which termed him as a 'white saviour'. 

"Being Canadian… they didn’t teach us about Black history. It was just not a part of our education system," the musician explained at a podcast. 

The singer admitted that he too had made "insensitive jokes" when he was a kid and stated that he was part of the problem "because I just didn’t know better."

"I want to keep growing and learning about just all social injustices and what it looks like for me to be better, what it looks like for my friends to be better," Bieber said. "And I know I have a long way to go. I love that when people are listening to my album, these conversations are coming up and they're like, 'Well, how is he going from Martin Luther King into a love song?'"

"I'm not trying to make a connection between me and Martin Luther King. That's why I never try to talk about social injustice or I didn't want to be the one to talk about it because I just have so much more learning to do," the singer added. 

Bieber said he wanted to "amplify" the civil rights leader’s "incredibly touching speech" and get conversations started about injustice. 

Meanwhile, Martin Luther King's daughter Bernice took to Twitter to speak in support of the singer.

"Each of us, including artists and entertainers, can do something. Thank you, Justin Bieber, for your support, in honor of #Justice, of The King Center’s work and of our #BeLove campaign, which is a part of our global movement for justice," she tweeted.

When Bieber announced 'Justice', he said he hoped the album could bring people together. 

"In creating this album my goal is to make music that will provide comfort, to make songs that people can relate to and connect to so they feel less alone," he wrote.