In answer to to the question, “Can Justin Bieber be saved?”, you might say, “Who cares?”
My answer would be, “Millions of young, impressionable girls, some of whom might go right off the deep end if anything truly bad happened to their pop-star idol.”
Just look at the wailing around the world over Zayn Malik leaving the boy band One Direction.
From The Oakland Press (via the Washington Post):
Wednesday was a weird day in the American school system.
Students by the hundreds were afflicted by inexplicable bouts of wailing normally reserved for natural disasters and train wrecks. The cause was the departure of 22-year-old Zayn Malik from the mega boy band One Direction. The stakes, students bleated, couldn’t be higher. What does this mean for Zayn? Does he still love us? Did he ever? Why is he leaving?
And all he did was leave a band, not get arrested, sued, accused of fathering children, filmed peeing in a restaurant mop bucket, or out drinking while being underage — all things that have happened to now-21-year-old Justin Bieber.
It’s just the grace of God or dumb luck that Canadian-born Bieber hasn’t fallen into hard drugs or gotten himself killed in some ridiculous way, and it’s probably because of very good, very expensive lawyers that he’s not sitting in prison somewhere or permanently deported from the U.S.
I’ve seen just the tiniest slice of Bieber-mania, having been at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills one day — to interview “American Bible Challenge” host Jeff Foxworthy, of all things — when Bieber was also there. We never crossed paths, but there was a throng of “Beliebers” on the sidewalk at the hotel entrance. When I left, it was challenging not to sideswipe one on the way out, so eager were they to see if he might be in any exiting vehicle.
For a moment, I imagined what might happen to these hysterical young women if word came out that Bieber had slipped in the bathtub or choked on a chicken wing. It’s not a stretch to think that at least a few of them might harm themselves in grief over the loss of their fantasy boyfriend.
A star in his early teens when his singing videos hit on YouTube, Bieber is a case study of what happens when you’re a young guy, famous, have scads of money (and scads of hangers-on) and no strong paternal figure (Bieber’s parents never married, and his father is in his life, but sometimes, it seems, more as an accomplice than a parent).
He occupies a strange position in the rarefied air of celebrity, as outlined in a Vulture story from 2014, titled “Justin Bieber: A Case Study in Growing up Cosseted and Feral”:
As we spoke, Bieber struck me as a precocious kid, talking about mastering the Rubik’s Cube and spewing forth lines memorized from rap songs and Will Ferrell comedies. “Justin is just freakishly good at everything he did or does,” said his mother, Pattie Mallette, a thoughtful, soft-spoken woman so tiny she stood at least a head shorter than her son. “At 1 year old, he could carry on a conversation. At 2, he was having full conversations on the phone. He played all-star travel soccer, all-star travel hockey, was chess and golf champion of our region—and he’s amazing at Hacky Sack.”
Bieber’s phone buzzed with a call from Selena Gomez, whom he had just started dating—and whom, in a weird moment, a member of his entourage, led by his charismatic, self-mythologizing manager Scooter Braun, asked me not to mention, lest the Beliebers lose faith he was a gift from God exclusively for them—but Bieber said, in what felt like an act of superhuman control, “I’ll talk to her later. I’mma finish this.”
Bieber was born to an unwed, 18-year-old mother (who got pregnant despite being on The Pill) who had psychological problems of her own, but who had found solace in Christianity. Bieber has not abandoned the idea of faith, even attending a Pittsburgh Steelers Bible study late last year, and being associated with some pastors, including Carl Lentz of Hillsong NYC and Judah Smith of The City Church, who was quoted in a recent piece in the Christian Post:
Smith also said that Bieber “certainly loves God and is passionate about being… the man that he wants to be.
As for Lentz, the New York Post reported last November :
“He’s on a journey,” explains Lentz, who is rumored to have baptized Bieber this past June in a friend’s bathtub (Lentz wouldn’t comment). “If he’s not doing good, should we abandon him?”
On Monday, March 30, at 10 p.m. ET/PT (considering the content, it couldn’t air earlier), the “Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber” exposes the singer — who lobbied to do this special — to some withering criticism from such celebrity guests as “roastmaster” Kevin Hart, Ludacris, Shaquille O’Neal, Jeffrey Ross, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart.
When the announcement came out in January, Bieber tweeted to his 62-million-plus followers:
For years I have wanted Comedy Central to roast me. They said only if I provided them w/ more material so for a year now I have worked hard
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) January 20, 2015
Comedy Central sent out several clips of the special, almost all of which were entirely unsuitable to be embedded here. Ironically, the one that just about passed muster was from Snoop Dogg, who reminded Bieber that he’s alive because his mother didn’t take some people’s advice:
In a new interview with USA Today, published March 29, Bieber said in response to a question about songs he’s writing for a new album (he hasn’t had a major release since 2013):
About growing, being in touch with yourself. What can I say, it’s life experiences, and knowing that you can and get back up and keep going. Hope and faith, that’s what’s gotten me through this too, my faith. What I believe in. You’re around some people sometimes and it might taint what you believe. I think that’s what happened with me, I lowered my beliefs.
Justin Bieber’s just one person, but his reach is massive, and he touches a lot of vulnerable souls. He could do immense good or immense damage, to himself and others.
One hopes that he heard some of the sharp words at the roast, and under the laughs, realized that God has given him extraordinary gifts, and that it’s time to grow up and give back.
Image: Courtesy Comedy Central, Kevin Mazur/WireImage
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