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And Finally Top Stories
Bieber’s dramatic week in London ends as singer jets off to Lisbon
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 11 March 2013
So, Justin Bieber concluded his headline-grabbing week in London on Friday afternoon with a very public (ie recorded and immediately posted to the internet) tussle with a paparazzo.
Well, why the hell not? As noted on many a previous occasion, while the average teen star may indeed be a self-important wanker, if you earn your crust pushing cameras in their faces at every possible opportunity, it’s surely to be expected that occasionally said stars will push or swear at you. Indeed the occasional slap in the face, kick in the balls, punch in the gut or rude note to a loved one isn’t all that surprising, not that we’d ever condone any violence here at your peace loving CMU, even between overpaid teen stars and “scum-of-the-earth” tab paps.
Anyway, Friday’s run-in seemingly began when the Biebster and/or one of his minders physically pushed one of the waiting photographers as the teen star, fresh from receiving hospital treatment after passing out during the previous night’s O2 show, left his London hotel. The pushed photographer immediately cried “assault” and told “that fucking cock” to “fuck off back to America”, prompting Bieber, who had already boarded his vehicle by this point, to bounce back out shouting “what you fuck you say?” before lunging towards a random snapper. Though, alas, the star’s security intervened before the singer could add another proper pap assault charge to his collection.
Despite being over in seconds, the brief run-in grabbed headlines as Bieber performed his final of four shows at London’s The O2 on Friday evening. It had been something of a controversial stay in the British capital, starting with the star’s birthday party entourage being refused entry into his West End club of choice; followed by a two-hour delay to his first London show, allegedly because of a diva fit backstage, leaving loads of Beliebers in tears as parents forced them home before the show had even started; followed by the health issues during Thursday’s performance (which some cynics suggested was a bid for sympathy after the Monday night late start debacle).
The various events of the week led to newspaper reports that Bieber had vowed never to return to the UK. “I’m never coming back here”, he allegedly screamed in the midst of a bout of tears following the paparazzo incident, though perhaps he was referring to the W1B postal district he was speeding through at the time, which, truth be told, can be a bit tedious, what with all the tourists and shoppers. And I still don’t get what all the excitement was when they re-opened the Oxford Circus pedestrian crossing in 2009; it’s still a nightmare navigating that junction on foot at rush hour.
Anyway, despite additional reports that the singer had pulled out of a UK TV interview, so keen was he to exit this fair isle, Bieber subsequently told Twitter: “I see the tweets from the UK fans. I was never scheduled to be on any TV show Saturday night. Just rumours… again. I was always scheduled to leave the UK that day and I loved every show I had at The O2 this past week. The UK Beliebers are incredible. I will be back. And I will see you again. And I am grateful for all of you. You are what made some of the other stuff worth it”.
So that’s nice. Though a quick note to Bieber’s PR people: Assuming he does return to London one day – and having just had to fix another batch of his tweets after a busy week for Bieber news – next time he’s in town could we get twelve minutes with the boy to discuss capital letters? The singer arrived in Portugal this weekend preparing for the next leg of his world tour, where he immediately grabbed headlines by cancelling the second of his Lisbon shows (officially due to “unforeseen circumstances” though most likely because of slow ticket sales).
