X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne has found herself at the centre of a race row after attributing Justin Bieber's wayward behaviour to the singer trying to 'act black'.

The 60-year-old star slammed the teen pop sensation after his tour bus was raided by police in a drugs bust.

Police confirmed they found the class C drug marijuana and associated paraphernalia when the bus was stopped as it crossed the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor, Canada, into Detroit.

"I think that he's lost, I really do," Osbourne told the Daily Beast. "I think he doesn't realise he's white and not black - that's a huge problem. And, at the point he's at in his career, it's so dangerous because we've seen it all before a million times."

The co-host of CBS' The Talk went on to claim that the 19-year-old Baby hitmaker is on the rocky road to ruin like other teen stars such as Lindsay Lohan, Macaulay Culkin and Amanda Bynes.

"Where do you go when you're a child entertainer and then you want to transition to be a man? Very few make it."

Referring to footage of Bieber urinating in a club cleaner's bucket and reports that he allegedly spat over a balcony on Canadian fans in Toronto, she said: "I feel really bad for him. There's this little kid with a huge dream, he's cute, girls love him, and he wants to be a mean boy, and he's about as mean as a f****** kitten.

"He's trying to act out. It's like, pissing in a bucket. It's like, 'Oh, we're the bad boys!' F*** off! You don't know what bad is."

Osbourne's inflammatory remarks have since provoked a huge response from the online community.

One unimpressed user wrote: "She old enough to know better. What is the definition of acting Black? Because they found drugs on his tour bus (only black people do drugs) and because he is BAD. Let me not start with her crack head husband."

Another said: "Whether she meant for it to be a negative generalisation of black people or not, he's "acting black" is not definitive of "he's acting out" ... unless pissing in buckets, smoking weed, and spitting on fans are all indicative of black behaviour. Didn't realise we had a monopoly on those things."

Justin Bieber