JLS star 'was victim of racist bullies'

Aston Merrygold has revealed that he was bullied when he was younger.

The JLS star, who is an ambassador for the charity Beatbullying, told The Sun that the comments he faced were often racist.

"When I was 13 I joined a local football squad as I had dreams of playing for my team, Arsenal," he said. "I was always the shortest in my side or class at school and there were some comments made, calling me 'shorty' or taking the mick.

"But I was also the only black kid in the team and the comments started to reach another level. I'm mixed race as my mum is Irish and my dad is Jamaican. But I used to get called 'Osama Bin Laden' or 'P**i' which I just couldn't understand as it didn't make any sense.

"It was just ignorant but I decided they were never going to break me."

Merrygold added that the comments were "very hurtful", but said: "I stayed in the team because I didn't want to run away. Now I'm trying to get somewhere with my future, and where are those guys at?"

He also criticised Strictly Come Dancing star Anton Du Beke for his recent use of the word 'P**i', saying: "I don't know anything about the Strictly row but it's not a word I would use and for me it's a racist word. If you use that kind of language you should realise people don't want to hear it."

> Click here for our interview with JLS.