David Letterman apologized to Justin Bieber for being "snappish" during a tense interview Thursday in which the late-night star ribbed the 18-year-old about his new tattoo.
Bieber appeared on the "Late Show" just after having the title of his new album, "Believe," imprinted in ink across his left forearm. After Letterman asked if it was a new tattoo, he sighed and followed up: "Oh God, how many do you have?"
When Bieber replied sheepishly that he had "a couple," the 65-year-old Letterman lectured the Stratford, Ont., native.
"How does that help how you look to have a tattoo?" Letterman queried.
A moment later, he grabbed Bieber and roughly tried to scrub the still-fresh ink from his arm, at which point the 18-year-old struggled and shouted in protest: "Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh!"
"That was the Canadian in me," said a smiling Bieber, a moment after simply lamenting: "Grandpas."
Still, Letterman continued along that line of questioning, asking Bieber whether either of his parents had tattoos (his mom doesn't; his dad has plenty).
"But do me a favour, don't go nuts, you know what I mean?" said Letterman, before mentioning that more and more people seemed to be getting "a mural ... the Sistine Chapel" tattooed on themselves.
When Bieber responded, "I'm not going for the 16th chapel," Letterman saw another opportunity to pounce.
"Canadian high school!" he said as the audience laughed at Bieber's gaffe.
At this point, the visibly irritated teen-pop star sat unamused, with a fist curled over his mouth.
Later, Letterman made the uncommon move of approaching Bieber just before his performance of his chart-topping single "Boyfriend" to smooth things over.
"Are you all right? Is your tattoo OK? Everyone said, well it's a brand-new tattoo and I hurt your tattoo," said the veteran funnyman.
"And then other people said, 'you were snappish to the boy."'
Bieber, placing a hand on Letterman's shoulder, graciously soothed the chat host.
"Everything's great. It's all good. You're fine. Don't worry," he said. "You were not snappish. You were fine ... I think I expect it."
While there were apparently no hard feelings, the incident brought to mind an awkward interview Letterman conducted with "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson last year in which he grilled her about her drinking habits.
At the time, the now-22-year-old actress could only sputter: "I'm dying here. Can we move on?"
