Bosses of the website which posted photos purporting to show unairbrushed images of Justin Bieber from his recent Calvin Klein shoot have offered the pop star an apology.

The Baby hitmaker's advertising campaign for the fashion giant became a sensation when it was unveiled this week (beg05Jan15), but editors of Breatheheavy.com uploaded images of a much less hunky Bieber, suggesting the pictures were the unairbrushed originals.

Bieber's team claimed the snaps were fake and threatened bosses of the website with legal action if they did not remove the pictures.

The photos have now been removed from Breatheheavy.com and editors issued a statement on the site which reads, "We sincerely apologize to Bieber for the hit to his ego and to the millions of tweens on social media we upset..."