Why Justin Bieber deleted his butt-on-boat photo

Pop star Justin Bieber. Photo / Instagram

Justin Bieber has deleted his butt selfie.

The 21-year-old singer posted the naked snap he took in Bora Bora on Instagram on Tuesday and received more than 1.7 million likes for it in a day, but has since taken it down, because he "embarrassed" his friend's daughter.

Along with a fully clothed picture of himself, Justin shared: "Hey I Deleted the photo of my butt on Instagram not because I thought it was bad but someone close to me's daughter follows me and she was embarrassed that she saw my butt and I totally wasn't thinking in that aspect.

"And I felt awful that she felt bad. To anyone I may have offended I'm so sorry. It was completely pure hearted as a joke but didn't take in account there are littles following me!!! Love u guys (sic)".

The Boyfriend hitmaker's original nude picture was mocked by Miley Cyrus earlier this week.

The 22-year-old popstar edited the image to enlarge his pale derriere.

Posting the picture online, Justin wrote, "Look", with Miley changing the image and reposting it on her own account, writing, "Bieber got back!"

Although the jokey picture made a mockery of Bieber's skinny figure by giving him a Kim Kardashian West-sized butt, fans of the pair clearly found the prank hilarious as they showed their approval in the comments.

One Instagram user wrote: "Haahahhahahah this is so funny! Love you Miley (sic)."

Another user added: "omg. You are too funny. Love u girl. @mileycyrus (sic)."

- Bang! Showbiz