If Justin Bieber hadn’t been such an insufferable little brat on his way up the greasy pole, he wouldn’t be getting so much flak for his stupidity and offensive behaviour now.
I know he achieved massive fame and fortune at a very early age, and a tough upbringing with his flawed mother gave him no preparation on how to handle such profound changes in his life, but that’s no excuse for his appalling casual racism and lack of respect for his fans.
Bieber has been an accident waiting to happen for years with a string of scandals culminating in this week’s disgraceful video showing him behaving like an ignorant, prejudiced redneck.
Despite a hasty apology, I’m not sure he can recover from this, and who knows what other unexploded bombs are lurking in cyberspace just waiting to go off.
There’s a lesson to be learned here for every single teenager who has been filmed on a camera phone spewing foul and vicious rants, or half-drunk and flashing their bits.
If you post such material on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube they are there for ever.
You have shared your profound stupidity with the entire world via the internet and the slate cannot be wiped clean.
Even if you are sober or savvy enough not to download images or video from your own camera, can you honestly trust your pals or all those people at the party or nightclub to be equally sensible?
I think not.
Ill-advised online videos have cost university graduates their lucrative jobs, wrecked friendships and relationships, and damaged careers.
What might seem like a bit of a lark when you are 18 becomes horribly embarrassing 10 years down the line when you are hoping for promotion.
Posting topless pics on a drunken hen night will come back to haunt you when you have kids of your own.
It is such a problem that entire silicon valleys full of geeks are working on the software to try and eradicate our entire internet history.
I bet the suits lamenting all the money Bieber’s ignorance and stupidity has cost them will be wishing there was a way to magically wipe away all of his antics, but you can’t lay all of the blame entirely at his door.
Where were all the people who are supposed to be looking after this once fresh-faced young man and saving him from himself?
Why was a 16-year-old surrounded with a posse of giggling hangers-on instead of a trusted older friend or mentor who would never have allowed him to utter such bilge in the first place, never mind having it captured on camera.
Bieber showed a very dark and murky side of his character, especially for a pop star who owes his career and his millions to working predominately with black artists.
If he really has learned a lesson, is genuinely contrite and no longer holds such repellent views then we need to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this really is his very last chance.
And we shouldn’t forget that it’s not only big stars who can come crashing down through the power of social media.
Anyone caught expressing repellent views or acting like a complete idiot can find their whole world in ruins.
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