JUSTIN BIEBER APOLOGIZES For Smoking Weed [Video Inside]

Justin Bieber used his platform as host of "Saturday Night Live" to apologize to his fans for being photographed smoking weed ... but he did it in character. 

Video and Photos After the Cut: 

During a sketch entitled "The Miley Cyrus Show," Bieber played Miley's biggest fan. After lobbing a few insults at himself, Biebs, while still in character, says (of the real Biebs), "I also heard he got busted for smoking weed. And he's really sorry about it. And people make mistakes. And he's never gonna do it again."

TMZ had posted the pictures of Bieber smoking weed at a party in Newport Beach on January 2. And there are those pics of Biebs with a blunt taken a few weeks later. 

Bieber never commented directly on the photos ... until Saturday night Live .. and in the third person.