Auckland Law Revue parody Justin Bieber's 'Sorry' to highlight race relations

Justin Bieber's hit video 'Sorry' may have been a hit around the world for the amazing dance moves by Kiwi choreographer Parris Goebel.

But it's the new lyrics in a parody by Auckland Law Revue students which is helping create some awareness of a different kind.

The students have created a parody video highlighting race relations in New Zealand with Bieber's Sorry as a background.

From the start, it's clear the students' are wanting to strike the right balance between humorous and controversial with their introduction 'No Pakeha rights were harmed in the making of this video'.

It's then followed by a warning: 'The follow footage may offend some one-law-for-all activists. If you do not wish to be offended, please turn a blind eye'.

The students say the video was made to "highlight and raise discussion around race relations in Aotearoa, New Zealand".

"The video is a parody of Justin Bieber's SORRY Video, based on the Treaty of Waitangi. New Zealand is the poster child of strong race relations, as we proudly trumpet our record of exemplary human rights on the world stage. And yet, over the 170 years since the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, our government has yet to issue an apology to Maori for the mishandling of the Treaty of Waitangi, not to mention the endemic marginalisation, dislocation and alienation that has flowed since.

"The irony in this was not lost on the Auckland Law Revue - so we decided to take a look at what a formal apology from our government might look like [assuming that our members of government were half as talented as our wonderful cast]."

In the two days since the video's release, it's had more than 100,000 views across various platforms, thousands of shares and thousands of people discussing this video and the issues raised.

"We are non-political and simply are trying to raise this within our generation to ensure we avoid the same mistakes of the past."