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And Finally Artist News
Justin Bieber recalls 2014 drag racing arrest, tells fans to let Jesus take the wheel
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 25 January 2021
Seven years ago was a very different time. David Bowie was still alive. Nobody Tik Tokked. Brexit was a theoretical concept that only 47 people actively thought about. Donald Trump was a reality TV star. ‘Boris’ Johnson was only empowered to screw up London. We were allowed to go outside. And a young Justin Bieber had just been arrested for drag racing in the streets of Miami while under the influence of drink and drugs. An incident he now admits was not his “finest hour”.
In an Instagram post marking the seventh anniversary of that incident yesterday, he writes: “Seven years ago today I was arrested, not my finest hour. Not proud of where I was at in my life. I was hurting, unhappy, confused, angry, mislead, misunderstood and angry at God”.
“I also wore too much leather for someone in Miami”, he adds.
For those of you who don’t have this incident etched on your brain, Bieber and fellow singer Khalil were arrested on 24 Jan 2014 after being seen racing two Lamborghinis down a road near Miami Beach. The arresting officer noted at the time that there was “an odour of alcohol emanating from [Bieber’s] breath and bloodshot eyes”. Smelly eyes being a classic giveaway that someone’s over the limit.
Biebs then made things worse for himself by swearing a lot and resisting arrest. He also put on a cheeky smile for his mugshot, which didn’t result in any more charges but also probably didn’t help.
This all capped off a period in the singer’s history where it’s fair to say he’d gone a little off the rails. There’s not time to list everything that occurred around that time, but this happened just days after the pop star’s house had been raided by police in search of eggs.
Finding eggs at the property was difficult, because Bieber had just lobbed them all at his neighbour’s house, which resulted in federal vandalism charges.
It was also just days after Bieber’s mother had pleaded with fans to pray for him. Seemingly all the prayer hadn’t quite kicked in by that point and God was still letting Bieber do whatever he wanted.
But, despite punching a few photographers and being accused of racism a couple of times over the next year, the egg and drag racing incidents did seem to be something of a turning point for the musician. He also got sent to an anger management class as part of his sentence in relation to the drag racing, which might have helped.
Clearly it’s not a good thing that you could get so angry at God that you race a Lamborghini on a city street while off your face. However, Bieber now realises, God was sitting right there in the car with him, willing him to stop being such a prat.
“God has brought me a long way”, he continues in his Instagram post. “From then til now I do realise something: God was as close to me then as he is right now. My encouragement to you is to let your past be a reminder of how far God has brought you. Don’t allow shame to ruin your ‘today’, let the forgiveness of Jesus take over and watch your life blossom into all that God has designed you to be”.
So that’s one view. Of course, it could just be that all that leather was making him too hot and affecting his judgement. Don’t wear leather in a hot climate, people. It’s just not worth it. I think it says that somewhere in the Bible.
