Justin Bieber Slams the Paparazzi, Says He Refuses to Leave L.A.

Justin Bieber‘s recent encounters with the paparazzi in Los Angeles have become more intense and ambush-like in the weeks since concerns and rumors have swelled around his health and well-being. Still, the musician doesn’t believe he should be the one to compromise in order to get the photographers, who recently swarmed him at a coffee shop and while he’s been walking to his car, to back off.

“Everyone telling me to move from LA, U think I’m gonna get bullied to leave where my influence is most needed?” Bieber wrote on Instagram, sharing the post to both his story and his grid. Last night, the singer posted a video of the latest storm of flash photography he faced. He’s been turning the camera around to the people taking shots of him more often lately. “This has to stop,” he captioned the video.

For Bieber, L.A. isn’t the problem — they are. “How can we make a change if we run away from the darkness?” he asked. “I too have been caught up in the transactional nature of Hollywood. It’s embarrassing but with that said, I want nothing to do with that as a grown adult with a wife and son.” Bieber recently welcomed his first child, Jack Blues Bieber, with wife Hailey Bieber. “I just want to be submerged in the culture learning from any and everyone,” he continued. “And be a proponent and advocate for love and equality.”

In February, representatives for Bieber dismissed comments on his mental and physical health as being “exhausting and pitiful and shows that despite the obvious truth, people are committed to keeping negative, salacious, harmful narratives alive.” The singer has been active on Instagram in recent weeks, sharing music from a range of artists (his latest post is set to Lil Wayne’s “How to Love”), clips from skateboarding outings, and diary-like reflections.

In one, he wrote: “People told me my whole life ‘wow Justin u deserve that’ and I personally have always felt unworthy. Like I was a fraud … I definitely feel unequipped and unqualified most days.” Bieber seems to be reaching for a sense of understanding through human connection. When he was recently cornered by paparazzi while on a coffee run, he initially attempted to shield his face before confronting them directly. “Get outta here, bro. Money, that’s all you want. You don’t care about human beings,” Bieber said. “That’s all you care about, guys. Money. You don’t care about people.”