Justin Bieber learned the hard way that he shouldn’t try to profit off of someone else’s pain.
Or at least Diddy’s legions of fans won’t allow him to after the singer re-posted a picture Diddy uploaded paying homage to his longtime love and friend Kim Porter on Saturday. Bieber used that picture to promote his new clothing line Drew House, something Diddy’s fans were quick to point out was hella inappropriate, PEOPLE reports.
—Coroner rules Kim Porter died of lobar pneumonia—
Diddy is still agonizing over the death of Porter, whom he shares three children and who died of pneumonia last November. Diddy wrote lovingly about their days of old:
“I remember Kim flying to see me on the set of can’t nobody hold me down. She took like a 12 hour flight to LA and 3 hour ride to the desert. With no complaints. Was always ride or die. From day 1! I called her BONNIE AND I WAS CLYDE!” Diddy captioned the post of him and Porter posted up in front of a white Rolls Royce.
Bieber, 25, was slammed by social media users on Sunday after he too shared the photo with a caption of his own:
“#diddyfordrewhouse @diddy KP YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED FOR THE STUNNING WOMAN YOU WERE INSIDE AND OUT.”
But that didn’t sit well with many who called it “disrespectful” for using the somber moment to promote his merchandise.
“Delete this sir he shared this picture in memory of his wife not for promo for the clothing line,” one user wrote on Bieber’s post.
“Delete this he was morning (sic) about his girlfriend under the post. This is disrespectful,” another user pointed out.
—Chicago prepares to elect first, Black Female Mayor on Tuesday—
“Hope this gets taken down. Disrespectful to re-use a photo Diddy used on a memorial post to promote a brand,” another person wrote.
Bieber realizing that he made a major error, apologized and said he didn’t realize Diddy was still grieving.
“Ur wrong. God knows my heart, I know them and their family don’t tell me I’m being disrespectful I have all the respect for both of them I didn’t realize it was a photo of him mourning KP but I totally respect that but I also respect how sick of a photo that is!” Bieber said.
“It’s allay to appreciate art photographs are art and he happens to be wearing an identical outfit of my clothing line and I thought that was really cool,” Bieber said.
He tried it.