A
Short History Of Justin Bieber’s Year Of Troublemaking
(By Caitlin Dewey,
Washington Post, 15 January 2014)
Justin
Bieber may be the worst teen pop star of his generation. That’s not a
commentary on his musical talent or charm, but an objective consideration of
the number of scandals 19-year-old Biebs has found himself in over the course
of the past 12 months. In case you’ve
forgotten — or, let’s face it, weren’t paying any attention in the first place
— Bieber has made news for the wrong reasons not once, not twice, but 12 times
in the past year. In fact, his problems with both the law and his neighbors far
predate this
current egging drama. To wit:
1. March
26: One of Bieber’s neighbors in Calabasas, Calif., accused
the singer of assaulting and threatening him after the two got into an
argument.
2. March
28: German customs officials confiscated
Bieber’s pet monkey, Mally, when he failed to produce the paperwork to
bring it into the country. They later billed him several thousand dollars for
the monkey’s care at a German zoo.
3. April
12: Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and casually wrote in
the site’s official guest book that he hoped Frank “would have been a belieber”
— had she not, you know, died in a concentration camp.
4. April
25: Swedish police raided Bieber’s
tour bus in Stockholm, finding marijuana and a stun gun.
5. May 7:
Bieber and Usher were sued
for $10 million by a pair of R&B musicians who claimed they wrote
“Somebody to Love,” but were never paid or credited for it.
6. June
27: The Biebs was sued
by a paparazzo who claimed the singer kicked and punched him at a mall in
2012.
7. July
10: TMZ published
a video that appeared to show a very classy Bieber urinating in a mop
bucket in a nightclub kitchen while also insulting Bill Clinton.
8. Nov. 2: While on tour in early November, Bieber yet again made headlines, this time with some sex-related scandal. The New York Post's Page Six alleged that Bieber had been spotted exiting a brothel while in Brazil. Then, a YouTube video sparked gossip that he'd done something less than innocent with the young woman featured in the clip. Bieber's camp has had no response on the chatter.
9. Nov.
7: Brazilian police charged Bieber with defacing a building in Rio de
Janeiro. Also on Nov 7th, a young Brazilian woman uploaded a video of Bieber sleeping to YouTube, which quickly went viral.
10. Nov.
14: Bieber apologized to Argentinian fans for using
their national flag to wipe down the stage after a concert in Buenos Aires.
11. Jan.
14: Bieber was detained in his Calabasas home while police investigated him
in connection to a
“felony egging incident.” A felony egging incident, for the record, is when
you egg your neighbor’s house and cause $20,000 of damage.
12. Also
on Jan. 14: During their search of Bieber’s house, police stumbled upon
what they believe to be ecstasy, “molly” or cocaine. One of Bieber’s house
guests, 20-year-old Lil Za, was arrested for possession; he then allegedly
broke a phone in jail, prompting another charge for vandalism. Bieber has since gone a full 24 hours without
mischief, though that probably won’t last long. The
L.A. Times reported very early this morning that detectives are currently
testing the drugs found in the Bieber house and sifting through many hours of
tape from his home security system. Get
it together, Biebs. You’re only lending more credence to those Lindsay
Lohan comparisons.
Bieber Arrested On Drunken
Driving, Resisting Arrest Charges
(By Alan Duke, CNN, January 24, 2014)
Justin
Bieber was charged with drunken driving, resisting arrest and driving without a
valid license after police saw the pop star street racing early Thursday
morning, Miami Beach police said. "What
the f*** did I do? Why did you stop me?" Bieber asked the police officer
who pulled him over just after 4 a.m., according to the arrest report. Bieber, 19, was released from a Miami jail an
hour after he made a brief appearance through a video link before a Miami
judge, who set a "standard" $2,500 bond Thursday afternoon. He strutted out of the jail dressed in black,
with a baggy hoodie covering his head. His pants appeared to be baggy leather.
Bieber briefly sat on top of a black Cadillac Escalade, where he waved to
screaming fans, before he was chauffeured away.
At the bail
hearing, the singer, dressed in an orange jail uniform, stood silently with his
lips sometimes pursed as attorney Roy Black represented him in the hearing
earlier. Black told Judge Joseph Farina
that he had been retained by Bieber's manager. He said his partner had been
denied access to Bieber in jail before the hearing. Bieber was booked into a Miami jail after
failing a sobriety test, Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez told
reporters Thursday. Bieber "made
some statements that he had consumed some alcohol, and that he had been smoking
marijuana and consumed some prescription medication," Martinez said. A Miami Beach officer saw Bieber driving a
yellow Lamborghini in a race against a red Ferrari in a residential area of
Miami Beach, Martinez said. The cars were speeding at about 55 to 60 mph in a
30 mph zone, he said.
The officer
pulled Bieber's car over, but the singer was "was not cooperating with the
officer's instructions," Martinez said.
"At first, he was a little belligerent, using some choice words
questioning why he was being stopped and why the officer was even questioning
him," he said. He allegedly ignored
a police officer's request to keep his hands on the car while he did "a
cursory patdown for weapons," the report said. "I ain't got no f***ing weapons,"
the arresting officer quoted Bieber as saying. "Why do you have to search
me? What the f*** is this about?" The
arrest report describes Bieber as having a "flushed face, bloodshot eyes,
and the odor of alcohol on his breath."
Bieber failed a field sobriety test, Miami Beach Police Sgt. Bobby
Hernandez told CNN.
Two black
SUVs blocked the traffic at 26th and Pine Tree Drive, which "facilitated
an open road" for the two cars to race on Pine Tree, the report said. The Ferrari's driver, identified as
19-year-old Def Jam recording artist Khalil Sharieff, was also arrested on a
drunken driving charge, police said. Sharieff
posted a photo on his Instagram account of Bieber in the yellow Lamborghini
with a woman behind the wheel early Thursday. "U know bizzle brought that
lambo out," he wrote in the caption.
Another posting showed a photo of a Ferrari steering wheel with the
caption: "Miami nights ridin thru yo city in that hot wheel." A tweet posted Wednesday evening on
Sharieff's verfied Twitter account linked to a video of him playing basketball
with Bieber. Bieber flew to Miami on
Monday.
Another
police department in the Miami area is investigating a report that some of its
officers escorted Bieber's caravan between Miami strip clubs this week without
authorization. Opa-Locka Assistant City
Manager David Chiverton told CNN affiliate WSVN-TV that "at some point, the escort
took them at least to two locations that we know of." "The police administration had no
knowledge of this escort, and it is not the norm for those things to occur
without the chief and his administration authorizing such escorts,"
Chiverton told the TV station. Thursday's
incident marks the first time the teen singer has been arrested, although he is
under investigation on allegations of egging his California neighbor's home.
Los Angeles
County sheriff's deputies used a felony search warrant last week to raid
Bieber's mansion in the felony vandalism investigation. They seized Bieber's
iPhone and the security camera system, which detectives have been examining for
clues about who tossed eggs over a fence that splattered onto the next-door
house, causing an estimated $20,000 in damage.
Deputies have also investigated reports by Bieber's neighbors that he
raced his expensive sports car down the streets of the exclusive Oaks community
of Calabasas, California, but no charges ever resulted. One neighbor accused Bieber of spitting in
his face during a heated confrontation last March. Deputies have responded to
complaints about loud parties at Bieber's place.
The Los
Angeles County district attorney's office concluded it couldn't prove the
spitting or speeding cases in court, so it declined to prosecute. Prosecutors also rejected a misdemeanor
battery complaint from a photographer who accused Bieber of attacking him in
the parking lot of a Calabasas shopping center as he was taking photos of
Bieber and his then-girlfriend, Selena Gomez, in May 2012. "We didn't do this search warrant to
send a message," Sheriff's Lt. David Thompson said last week. "That's
not what we do, but we hope maybe that understanding the gravity of this will
change some of the behavior."
