Justin Bieber Tells Ellen He And Miley Are "Just Hanging Out"

Miley and Justin at dinner earlier this week

Justin Bieber made it a point to let Ellen Degeneres know that Miley Cyrus was just one of the girls that he's "hanging out with," so as not to enrage his extremely jealous fans.

Earlier this week, X17online reported exclusively that he and new pal Miley Cyrus had a dinner date out in LA (see X17online's exclusive pix below) but when Ellen asked if this was romantic or just friendly, Justin responded they were, "Just hanging out! If you look on the Internet, you'll see other girls that I hang out with."

That's probably a relief to Miley's beau Liam Hemsworth, as well as the legions of Justin fans who have threatened Kim Kardashian after Bieber jokingly called her his "girlfriend."

So does Bieber have the fever for any girl in particular? "I'm ... hanging out with girls," he reiterated, saying he's "not really" dating!

Although he probably wouldn't admit it if he were ... if nothing else for the safety of his girl!