Justin Bieber is arguably the most famous, most beloved, and most all-around innocuous teenage celebrity on the planet. He neither drinks nor snorts drugs, or bong-smokes salvia (or anything else for that matter). And, so far, no one knows whether or not he even has a girlfriend. So why would anyone want to boycott the beloved Biebs?
According to Popeater, it all started when a "sophomoric website" called Celeb Jihad "quoted" Bieber "offering praise for the so-called Ground Zero Mosque and calling Christians "lame-o-rama."
The site is meant to be satirical, and it even sports a disclaimer, advising readers that "Celeb Jihad is a satirical website containing published rumors, speculation, assumptions, opinions, fiction as well as factual information." Which should
prevent anyone from totally taking it seriously. Or not.
A Facebook group called "Boycott companies who support the Ground Zero Mosque" took one look at the Bieber quotes on Celeb Jihad and added him to their list of undesirables who should be economically blacklisted because of their alleged support for the erection of a mosque at Ground Zero.
Andy Sullivan, the founder of a construction workers group called 911 Hard Hat Pledge--whose members have all sworn to refuse to work on the construction of the Ground Zero Mosque (if it ever gets close to actually being built)--claims his organization's anti-Bieber fever began with quotes from a Tiger Beat Magazine interview with Bieber quoted on Celeb Jihad.
Sullivan says that when he told his eight-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son that "Justin Bieber spoke out for the ground zero mosque," they wanted nothing to do with him anymore. They're living this thing." Wow.
What on earth could Bieber have said in that Tiger Beat interview to incur such antipathy? The quote reprised on Celeb Jihad's website was:
"Muslims should be allowed to build a mosque anywhere they want. Coming from Canada, I'm not used to this level of intolerance, eh."
Bieber, who was just seven years old in 2001, added:
"...frankly I'm surprised people are still going on about it. Move on, already!"
As for Christians being "lame-o-rama," the entire quote was:
"Muslims are 'super cool,' Christians are 'lame-o-rama,' and maybe "(the mosque will help) start a dialogue with all religions about which Justin Bieber song is the most awesome."
It seems the Biebs was just joking.
Since the article's satirical nature has been clarified, the Facebook group "Boycott companies who support the Ground Zero Mosque" has issued the following statement:
"We are waiting for comment from Tiger Beat Magazine to verify the article we quoted. However, our source of information was not based on the obviously false quotes from Celeb Jihad."
So far, there's been no comment from Tiger Beat Magazine or from Justin Bieber. There's really nothing left to say. Except perhaps: lighten up, already!
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