Dancer Emma Portner, who choreographed Justin Bieber's 2016 Purpose World Tour has said that the singer paid her very little when she worked for him. The 24-year-old, who is married to actress Ellen Page, said that her salary made it difficult for her to buy food at times.
Portner took to her Instagram story to call on Bieber to educate himself and surround himself with people other than his straight, white pastor and manager. She said that, with his immense power, he needs to stop degrading women:
“I regret working under your name. 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. I couldn’t afford to eat. I was sweeping studio floors to be able to practice my craft.
The way you degrade women is an abomination. You continue to collaborate with overly problematic people. You religiously go to a church that does not support the LGBTQ+ community. Your company hired an out lesbian in your music video, and to choreograph some content for your purpose world tour. How do you feel about that? A lesbian, HELPING YOU, for a disrespectful amount of money, as you attend a church that goes against my existence?"
On her following Instagram story, she voiced her complicated emotions surrounding the situation:
“You can be grateful for opportunity AND still hold people accountable. You can be upset with your industry AND still want to be a part of it by encouraging change. You can be abused AND still have complex feelings towards your abuser(s). Dialectics will change you life. Get into the word ‘AND’ and continue down the path of releasing finite judgement. We are all eternally shape shifting.”
This comes only a few days after Cara Delevingne called on Justin Bieber to do the same. When Bieber came to the defence of his manager after Taylor Swift attacked him, Delevingne told him in an Instagram comment to “spend less time sticking up for men and more time trying to understand women”.