Will.i.am sticks up for Bieber

Will.i.am has been defending Justin Bieber

Will.i.am has stuck up for pal Justin Bieber over his recent antics in Europe.

Justin, who features on Will's new single #thatpower, was in the firing line recently for visiting Amsterdam's Anne Frank museum and saying he hoped the Holocaust victim would have been a Belieber.

The Voice judge Will told The Sun: "The dude was in freaking Amsterdam. He could get sex because it's legal, he could get drugs because it's legal, and now we are making a hoopla because he said, 'I wonder if Anne Frank was a Belieber?'

"He went to a museum! If you go to Amsterdam you are going to see some crazy freaking s*** ... but he chose to go to Anne Frank's house. The guy is all right.

"He is handling everything pretty sanely. Anyone else would go insane under that freaking microscope of scrutiny and judgment."

The 38-year-old Black Eyed Peas star said he had been very impressed by Justin: "Justin is a great talent. Of all the people I have worked with over the past five years he is one of the best.

"I remember when I was 19, it was pretty tough. The difference between me and him is that I got to grow up in private, he is growing up in front of everybody."

Will has also been sticking up for another celebrity friend - Cheryl Cole.

The Black Eyed Peas star, who has been managing the former Girls Aloud singer, told The Sun about his reaction after Simon Cowell dropped her from The X Factor USA. He said: "It was just wrong what happened to her and I stuck my neck out to fight for her.

"When I see Simon now it is all fresh. But with the incident that happened with Cheryl, I was like, 'Hey Simon, Cheryl asked me to manage her, I have to fight for her, but I hope it doesn't change how you view me as an artist'."