Justin Bieber has been forced to defend his choice of clothing for a meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister on Friday after critics took aim at him for wearing overalls.

The “Baby” hitmaker was honoured for his career success with a Diamond Jubilee medal, created to mark the 60th anniversary of Commonwealth sovereign Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne.

He was presented with the award in a room at the Scotiabank Place sports arena in Ontario, where he was due to perform later that night.

Bieber poked fun at his casual attire in a post on Twitter, writing, “I met the Prime Minister in overalls lol (laugh out loud)”, but many online followers did not see the funny side of his message and accused the pop star of being disrespectful towards Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had worn a suit to the ceremony.”

One blogger on Gawker.com dubbed Bieber the “White Trash Prince” for his lack of formal attire, but Bieber has now hit back at his critics, insisting he would have dressed more appropriately had the presentation taken place elsewhere.

In a series of tweets, he writes, “The pic of me and the Prime Minister was taken in a room in the arena where i was performing at that day. I walked straight from my meet and greet (with fans) to him, if you… expect me to have a change of clothes let a loan (sic) a suit at that specific time that’s crazy. It wasn’t like it was like I was going into his environment we were at a hockey arena. Wow am i ever white trash.”

Harper didn’t consider the pop star’s attire to be disrespectful – he took to his Twitter page and joked, “In fairness to @justinbieber, I told him I would be wearing my overalls too.”