Justin Bieber accused of ‘degrading women’ by choreographer
'I regret working under your name'
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Your support makes all the difference.Justin Bieber has been accused of “degrading women” by choreographer Emma Portner, who worked with the pop star on his Purpose World Tour in 2016.
The 24-year-old dancer, who is married to actor Ellen Page, claims Bieber “barely” paid her minimum wage, leaving her unable to buy food while she was working for him.
Writing on her Instagram story, Portner explained: “I was sweeping studio floors to be able to practice my own craft. The way you degrade women is an abomination.
“I regret working under your name,” she added.
“I gave your universe my naive body, creativity, time and effort. Twice. For content you made millions off of.
“While I made zilch. Natta. Barely anything. Less than minimum wage for the hours I invested.”
Portner said that someone of Bieber’s status holds “immense power” and urged him to “use it to stop degrading women”.
The choreographer’s comments come days after model Cara Delevingne urged Bieber to “spend less time sticking up for men and more time trying to understand women”.
Delevingne made the remark in a comment on the singer’s Instagram page – which appears to have since been deleted – after Bieber alleged that Taylor Swift had used her rift with music manager Scooter Braun to gain sympathy.
On Sunday, Swift published a Tumblr post expressing her concerns that Braun, who discovered Bieber on YouTube in 2007 and has represented him ever since, will own her music following his company’s deal with Big Machine Records, Swift’s former label.
The “You Need to Calm Down” singer accused Braun of “incessant, manipulative bullying”, prompting Bieber to rush to his defence and accuse Swift of unfairly getting “people to hate on Scooter” by writing the Tumblr post.
Delevingne responded by asking Bieber why he chose to criticise a woman online.
“As a married man, you should be lifting women up instead of tearing them down because you are threatened,” she said.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Portner and Bieber for further comment.
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