(TMZ) - Justin Bieber is apologizing for sniping  at Lindsay Lohan and her financial woes, according to  TMZ.

As TMZ previously reported, Bieber went on an Instagram  rant, complaining that he's getting unfairly skewered in the media. At the end,  he said, "...to those comparing me to Lindsay Lohan look at her 2012 tax  statements :)." In other words,  Lindsay's not in his league because she's  a loser who's in debt.

Bieber tells TMZ, "My post was only  up for a few minutes but I realized right away that what I said at the end was  wrong and distracted from what I was trying to say."

Bieber  goes on: "I immediately deleted it and rewrote  it so it would show what I was really feeling and those words are  up now."

FYI, after taking it down 10 minutes after posting  it, Justin re-posted his comments, the reference to Lindsay had been  removed.

Bieber's fans were quick to  rally behind him too, check this video that just surfaced on YouTube.