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Justin Bieber defended himself on Clubhouse.
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  • On Tuesday Justin Bieber joined his first-ever Clubhouse room to talk about his album.
  • He spoke out about his decision to sample a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. on his album "Justice."
  • He said he has more growing and learning to do when it comes to Black history and social injustice.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Justin Bieber joined his first-ever Clubhouse room on Tuesday and talked about his intentions for placing "MLK Interlude" on his sixth studio album, "Justice."

The 1:44-minute-long interlude is pulled from a speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made in 1967. Critics called the inclusion of the interlude exploitative of the civil rights movement, and performative nonsense.

"I'm not trying to make a connection between me and Martin Luther King," Bieber told Kristal Terrell, a cofounder of Clubhouse's Bieber Nation, according to Billboard. "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."

"But I have this man who was ready to die and what he believed to be true. If I'm not willing to face some sort of ridicule or judgment of people wondering my motives or whatever that is, for me, it was a no-brainer," he continued.

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Justin Bieber is a Canadian singer.
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The "Peaches" singer also defended himself from criticisms claiming he was trying to exploit the civil rights movement, saying that he wanted to use his album to "amplify" the "incredibly, touching speech," recited by MLK.

"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. 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," he told Terrell.

He also touched upon how growing up in Canada impacted his understanding, saying, "They didn't teach us about Black history. It was just not a part of our education system."

"I think for me, coming from Canada and being uneducated and making insensitive jokes when I was a kid and being insensitive and being honestly just a part of the problem because I just didn't know better," he said. "For me to have this platform to just share this raw moment of Martin Luther King in a time where he knew he was going to die for what he was standing up for."

Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber performing onstage.
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This isn't the first time Bieber addressed wanting to contribute to conversations about social injustice.

On February 26, a few weeks before releasing "Justice," he tweeted: "Suffering, injustice, and pain can leave people feeling helpless. Music is a great way of reminding each other that we aren't alone. Music can be a way to relate to one another and connect with one another."

He continued: "I know that I cannot simply solve injustice by making music but I do know that if we all do our part by using our gifts to serve this planet and each other that we are that much closer to being united."

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