17 Classic Justin Bieber Hoaxes and Odd Stories

A collection of 17 strange stories, hoaxes, and rumors about Justin Bieber which went viral between 2012 and 2014.

17 Classic Justin Bieber Hoaxes & Odd News Stories

We’ve done some recent house cleaning here at Wafflesatnoon.com, and ran across several old Justin Bieber stories which we published between 2012 and 2014. Some were hoaxes, while others were simply unusual viral stories about the young pop star. As standalone articles, many of these seem somewhat dated today. When presented together, however, the stories paint an interesting picture of the rumors about the pop singer which went viral over a two year period.

They are presented below in reverse chronological order.

17. Mayor Rob Ford Angered by “Crack” Joke

May 2014

The Toronto Star reported that Mayor Rob Ford was angered when Justin Bieber made a drug-related joke as the two men met in a nightclub in March 2014.

According to the report, Ford and Bieber were both at the Muzik nightclub in Toronto on March 15, 2014. The men were in a common area of the exclusive club when Ford attempted to shake Bieber’s hand. Bieber then allegedly joked with the mayor, “Did you bring any crack to smoke?” An angry Ford was then taken back to his booth by security.

The altercation came during one of two reportedly wild evenings by the mayor in recent months, in which he is said to have been seen doing cocaine by witnesses.

That week, a Toronto city spokeswoman said that Mayor Ford had announced he was taking a leave of absence to seek help for a drinking problem.

Toronto Star editor Michael Cooke tweeted about the Ford-Bieber meeting:

#ford Ford enraged at Muzik nightclub when #bieber asked if he had any crack cocaine. A wild ugly time. Kevin Donovan story breaking soon.

— Michael Cooke (@TorStarEditor) May 1, 2014

Ford and Bieber did not comment on the meeting.

16. Justin & Usher Beat $10 Million Plagiarism Lawsuit

March 2014

A $10 million lawsuit claiming Justin Bieber and Usher plagiarized the song “Somebody to Love” was dismissed in March 2014.

The Hollywood Reporter noted that U.S. district judge Arenda Allen dismissed the lawsuit by Devin “the Dude” Copeland and Mareio Overton, who claimed their similarly-titled song from 2008 was ripped off by Bieber and Usher in 2010.

Copeland claimed he had pitched his song to several artists, including Usher, in 2008 via Sangreel Media, but no deal ever developed. Two years later, Usher penned the song that would end up on Bieber’s My World 2.0 album. It was alleged in court that this tune was too similar to the one written by Copeland and Overton.

In her decision, Allen wrote, “Having examined Plaintiffs’ song and the three accused songs, the Court finds that the songs cannot be reasonably construed as being substantially similar. Although the accused songs have some elements in common with Plaintiffs’ song, their mood, tone, and subject matter differ significantly… Therefore, a reasonable juror could not conclude that a member of the public would construe the aesthetic appeal of the songs as being similar.”

15. Intruder Found Sleeping in Bieber’s Bed

March 2014

A woman was arrested in Justin Bieber’s Atlanta Estate in March 2014 after being found asleep in one of the star’s bedrooms.

TMZ reported that Bieber’s landlord called the police after finding “an Asian female” asleep in one of the bedrooms. The woman claimed she was visiting Bieber for a birthday party, realized she was late, and came in to wait for the star.

Police arrested Qianying Zhao for trespassing and hauled her off in handcuffs. It wasn’t stated if Bieber was there to witness the event.

Watch the TMZ video below:

14. Slapped by Blake Griffin?

February 2014

A rumor heavily circulated on social media in February 2014 claiming that NBA player Blake Griffin slapped Justin Bieber in an altercation at a Starbucks in Hollywood.

It’s was not true.

Several sports blogs reported that the incident occurred when Bieber became belligerent after refusing to put on a shirt in a Starbucks. The false report stated that Griffin “smacked the sh*t” out of Bieber, and the singer left the location in tears, threatening to send his bodyguards after the NBA star.

The story appears to have been created as satire, but shared by some readers who believed it was real. Lakers player Chris Kaman joined in the fun – and fueled the rumor – by tweeting that he saw the incident.

He followed this up with another tweet which read, “It’s funny how some of u ppl believe anything…”

Gossip Cop heard from a Bieber rep who stated it was “made up” and pointed out that the pop star had not been in LA in weeks.

13. “Believe” Tanks at Box Office

December 2013

Justin Bieber’s 2013 film Believe failed to crack the Top 10 at the box in its opening week, placing 14th overall.

A day after playfully announcing his “retirement,” the pop star’s new film had a dismal showing on its opening day, perhaps a sign that the 19-year old singer has been negatively affected by a string of bad publicity throughout 2013.

Bieber’s first film, 2011’s Never Say Never, was a box office hit, taking in over $12 million on its opening day and over $73 million overall. Believe only earned $1.25 million on its first day.

With a small budget of between $4 and $5 million, and the star’s international popularity, the film still ended up barely in the black, grossing a little over $6 million in the U.S.

12. “Beached Whale” Comment Lead to Suicide?

December 2013

A story which circulated in December 2013 stated that Justin Bieber’s alleged “beached whale” comment caused a teen fan to commit suicide.

The article was satire.

Although reports circulated in early December 2013 claiming that Bieber made the comment, sources close to the star denied it happened, and the report of a suicide was added later by a satirical website.

“Beached Whale” comment

In early December 2013, Bieber allegedly called a young fan a “beached whale” at a hotel pool in Australia. Sources such as the Daily Mail reported that Bieber allegedly also told the young fan, “You should go on The Biggest Loser!” The fan is said to have been reduced to tears, and another hotel guest filed a complaint with the hotel.

Gossip Cop

A report by Gossip Cop immediately cast doubt on the story, claiming that multiple eyewitnesses said there was “no truth whatsoever to the claims.” It was also reported that sources close to Bieber called the report a “complete fabrication.”

National Report: Satire

The satirical website National Report took the “beached whale” report and embellished it, claiming that the teen had committed suicide after being “devastated” by Bieber’s comments.

National Report has a disclaimer which clearly states that the website produces satirical content.

Bottom Line:

A fan did not commit suicide after Justin Bieber allegedly called her a “beached whale.” His comments were alleged made in early December 2013, although the report was disputed. The satirical website National Report later added the false suicide claim.

Sources

• ‘What are you, Hawaiian?’: Justin Bieber calls curvy fan ‘beached whale’… before enjoying sunbathing session with topless blonde (Marc Andrews, Daily Mail: December 10, 2013)
• Justin Bieber Did NOT Call Fan A “Beached Whale,” Despite Report (Gossip Cop: December 10, 2013)
• Justin Bieber’s ‘Beached Whale’ Comment Leads To Teen Girl’s Suicide (National Report: December 21, 2013)

11. Fast and Furious 7 Replacement?

December 2013

After Paul Walker’s death in late 2013, rumors surrounding the future of the Fast and Furious film franchise circulated heavily on social media. One of those rumors stated that pop star Justin Bieber would replace Walker in the seventh installment of the series, which had been shooting at the time of the actor’s death.

The rumor surrounding Bieber’s supposed involvement stemmed from an interview with Ludacris in May 2013 and a story from July 2013 which speculated that the pop singer may land a role in the Furious 7 film. The article from Hollywood Life included a clip of the interview with Ludacris in which he was asked if Justin Bieber may have a role in the seventh installment of the Fast franchise. In the interview, Ludacris stated that the film was being written “as we speak.” When asked if Justin Bieber may be “angling for a part,” Ludacris responded, “He’s probably ready to shoot, I guarantee… I think he’s gonna love this movie so much he’s gonna try to get in here.” He also added there were “a lot of people fighting for position to get parts in the movie, but we’ll see how we can incorporate everybody.”

Ludacris did not say that Bieber had a role in the film, and Paul Walker was still alive at the time of the interview.

After the Ludacris interview, badly-Photoshopped photos (see below) and fan-made videos and trailers began appearing online by eager fans of the pop star in hopes that he may have an appearance in the film. There were, however, no announcements regarding a starring role for Bieber in the movie, and he never made it into the final film, which was released in April 2015.

Sources

• Justin Bieber To Have Sexy Starring Role In ‘The Fast & The Furious 7?? (Gino Orlandini, Hollywood Life: July 8, 2013)
• Paul Walker may STILL appear in Fast & Furious 7 as movie producers discuss rewrites after his death (George Stark, The Daily Mail: December 2, 2013)
• ‘Fast and Furious 7? Halts Production Following Death of Paul Walker (Andrew Stewart, Variety: December 4, 2013)
• Fast & Furious 7 will be completed, says director James Wan (Justin Harp, Digital Spy: December 7, 2013)

10. Stabbed Selena Gomez?

May 2013

A rumor which circulated in May 2013 claimed that Justin Bieber stabbed Selena Gomez. The rumor first circulated in early 2012 completely without merit or evidence. It’s possible in that case that someone misread a recent headline which stated “Justin Takes a Stab at Selena” as an implication that Bieber had insulted his ex-girlfriend.

The two stars were on different continents when the rumor began, so such a stabbing would have been quite difficult to pull off. Gomez was in the UK while Bieber was in the U.S.

YouTube Comment

Not long after the original “Justin stabbed Selena” rumor spread, spammers began using it in YouTube comments and on Twitter in order to get easy clicks for their links. The following comment was spammed on YouTube several times throughout 2013:

Justin Bieber just now was spotted running from Selena Gomez’s hotel coated in blood!

No one understands the full story as of yet but there are stories of a massive argument. You can actually view eye witness video of him fleeing here (Link Removed)

The spam link in the comments took readers to a fake video player, which asked readers to verify their ages before viewing. There was no video, and these links were eventually identified as malicious by Google.

9. Weed Apology on SNL

February 2013

Justin Bieber appeared on Saturday Night Live in February 2013, portraying the President of Miley Cyrus’ fan club. Bieber seemed to offer a sly apology – while still in character – for recently-leaked marijuana photos.

When TMZ published photos of the Biebs apparently holding a blunt a month earlier, the singer didn’t respond to the story directly. On SNL, however, he did appear to apologize for the incident, when he said (in character):

“I also heard he got busted for smoking weed and he’s really sorry about it and that people make mistakes and he’s never gonna do it again.”

Bieber also took pokes at himself in the skit:

• “Miley you’re seriously my favorite singer of all time. You’re light years better than that douche Justin Bieber!”
• “He looks like a lesbian!”
• “I heard he has his baby teeth.”

8. #CuttingForBieber

January 2013

Only a few months after the #baldforbieber hoax (see below), pranksters stepped up their game with the more sobering #cuttingforbieber (also #cutforbieber and #cut4bieber) Twitter hoax, in which they faked a movement of self-mutilation to protest Bieber’s highly-publicized pot use. There were reports that some young users may have fallen for the prank and actually cut themselves… but some claimed those reports were part of the hoax, too.

IBTimes Fooled

A report on the #cutforbieber hoax was published on January 7, 2013. In the article, the author discussed the movement:

User @BrittanyScrapma, whose account was created on Monday and had gained more than 300 followers by the afternoon,  posted a picture of what appeared to be a wrist with several bleeding lacerations. Below the wrist was a bloody razor blade, accompanied with this message for the singer: “#cutforbieber you stop using drugs and we’ll stop cutting. You make this world meaningless and we’ve lost hope pic.twitter.com/BrHhSIfJ.”

The author of that article apparently didn’t investigate the photo, as the image could easily be found on web pages dating back several years earlier, such as seen on this website. Commenters on other websites, such as this one, also claimed that their children cut themselves, but it wasn’t known whether or not these commenters were merely participating in the hoax.

HipHopWired Fooled

Another website, HipHopWired.com, posted some user cutting photos, but some of these were also easily tracked back to old websites. Compare the #cutforbieber tweet reported here with a photo found this page from 2005.

Several hours after the hoax began, users could be seen posting images of themselves cutting all sorts of objects, from paper to marijuana plants as a humorous spin on the #cutforbieber hoax.

Bottom Line:

It is unclear if anyone actually fell for the hoax or not. It garnered plenty of attention on Twitter, and #cutforbieber could be seen trending many hours after the hoax began. The posting of “borrowed” cutting photos along with anonymous comments weren’t enough evidence to say if anyone actually fell for the hoax.

Bieber never commented on the incident.

7. December 2012: Hospitalized with Breathing Problems?

December 2012

Twitter lit up with rumors in late 2012 that Justin Bieber had been hospitalized due to breathing problems. It was nothing more than a hoax.

No major news sources reported anything related to Bieber’s health, nor did he – or any of his crew – tweet about it. Other variations of the Bieber rumor stated that he fell and had been rushed, unconscious, to the hospital.

6. #BaldForBieber

October 2012

The October 2012 #BaldForBieber Twitter hoax was an attempt to fool impressionable young fans into shaving their locks for a fake cause.

The prank was masterminded by 4Chan, an image-based bulletin board. Videos, images, fake celebrity tweets, and websites were all created to give the illusion that Justin Bieber was diagnosed with cancer, and that fans were shaving their heads in support. It was all just an elaborate hoax. An image of a fake tweet from Entertainment Tonight was also posted to bolster the bogus story, along with doctored images to give the impression that celebrities had tweeted about Justin’s health.

Neither Justin Bieber’s official website nor his official Twitter account made any mention of cancer, #BaldForBieber, or any health issue for that matter.

An accompanying fake video was posted which included photos of bald young individuals as “proof” of fans uniting behind their pop icon by shaving their heads in support.

Further Reading

• Justin Bieber cancer rumor has Beliebers shave their heads
• #BaldForBeiber Hoax Teaches Kids to Fact Check Before Shaving Their Heads

5. “Stolen Laptop” Hoax

October 2012

Rumors that Justin Bieber’s personal laptop was stolen – with hints that an embarrassing video may see the light of day – were nothing more than a PR stunt to designed at promoting his music video “Beauty and a Beat” featuring the singer and Nicki Minaj.

The video is presented as it were filmed by Justin Bieber’s personal camcorder, which ties into the “stolen video” hoax. With a sort of “Blair Witch” reference, we read the ominous text:

In October of 2012 three hours of personal footage was stolen from musician Justin Bieber. The following footage was illegally uploaded by an anonymous blogger.

Justin Bieber did most of his own camera work in his music video.

The first few moments of footage seem to be a regular home movie before the music video itself begins. The rest of the music video is shot mostly from Bieber’s own hands as he dances and swims in a party atmosphere, occasionally handing the camera off briefly.

Thus, this music video is the “personal video” which resided on the fictional missing laptop.

This time, JB was the hoaxter.

4. 1992 Tweet From the Grave?

September 2012

Have you heard the story about a girl who died in 1989, and tweeted a photo in 1992 of Justin Bieber, who wasn’t even born yet? That is the backstory behind a strange September 2012 rumor.

Let’s take a look at one incarnation of the story, often circulated as a graphic containing the following text:

“You’ve probably all heard of @bieberlicious51 who tweeted only one thing, which is a link to a Tumblr post. So far, so good. Now the shocking thing: Twitter was created in 2006 but the tweet was posted on October 12th in 1992. Plus, her icon is Justin but he was born in 1994, two years after the tweet. How is that possible? There are plenty defaults since 2011 and users have found several twitter accounts who “tweeted” before the Social Network did even exist. But this isn’t a fault, many people are truly afraid of these tweets. I, Liam Ryan, and internet academic, am afraid. My team and I tried to find more information about that girl, we used special tricks to track her, we talked to her family which told us that the girl died in a car accident in 1989. She didn’t even know that her dead daughter was on the internet since the World Wide Web was barely known back then.

No matter if it’s just a prank, a complicated system or something else: This is a mystery and it drives us crazy. There’s nothing we can do about it, no way to find out how and when and that’s what makes the whole scandal about tweets before 2006 so scary”

Indeed, if you looked at the bieberlicious51 profile in 2012 it did contain a single tweet dated October 11, 1992 (screenshot below). It linked to a Tumblr post of a Justin Bieber photo. The photo is from a vacation in Mexico in 2011 with Selena Gomez. You can see more photos from this shoot here, along with the original which also contains Gomez – which was cropped out in the version in this post.

Which is more plausible: A ghost sending out a tweet to a domain that didn’t exist, using code that hadn’t been written, or someone figured out a way to hack the date and posted a recent picture of Justin Bieber? We’ll go with the latter.

Eventually the date glitch was fixed, and the mysterious tweet now (as of January 2016) shows a date of December 2011, which makes more sense.

Was this photo “tweeted” two years before Justin Bieber was even born?

The Bieberlicious51 account was created on December 11, 2011, which is when the tweet was actually sent out. Somehow the date was hacked or altered to show 1992, which remained that way for several years.

The tweet was sent out a mere three days after the Justin Bieber photo was taken. Whatever the motivation for this hoax is, it worked, and the account had over 30,000 followers when we first covered the story in 2012. By 2016 it still has nearly 20,000 thanks to a single tweet.

Timeline:
Twitter was created in 2006
Tumblr was created in 2007 
The Justin Photo was published on 12/8/2011
Bieberlicious51’s account was created on 12/11/2011 

3. Sued for Loud Concert

July 2012

An Oregon mom, Stacey Wilson Betts, attempted to sue Justin Bieber and company for over $9 million due to damaged hearing that she claimed occurred at a 2010 concert. TMZ released a copy of the complaint, which named Bieber, Island Def Jam Records, Vulcan Sports and Entertainment, and AEG Worldwide.

The woman’s complaint read as follows (some odd grammatical errors are corrected):

I took my daughter to a Justin Bieber concert July 14, 2010 at the Rose Quarter in Portland Oregon. Due to an unforeseen aspect of the show, I was injured by a sound blast that exceeded safe decibel levels. I suffer hearing loss, severe tinnitus and hyperacusis in both ears. The incident of injury was when Justin Bieber climbed into a heart shaped, aluminum/steel gondola and was pulled out into various sections of the arena. Then enticed the crowd into a frenzy of screams by continuously waving his arms in a quick and upward motion, whereas I was struck with a sound blast. The gondola that Justin Bieber was suspended in acted as a sound conductor creating a sound blast that permanently damaged both of my ears. Island Def Jam Records represents Justin Bieber, with his manager and promoter AEG Worldwide, designs and develops Justin Beiber’s shows. The Rose Quarter, owned by Vulcan Sports and Entertainment is where the injury took place in Oregon.

Her request for compensation read:

I respectfully ask the court to grant an award of $9,230,000.000 for expenses, pain and suffering, loss of quality of life, severe tinnitus, hyperacusis and permanent disability and impairment to both of my ears. I also request any and all court related fees or costs, witness, travel and any subsequent attorney fees be paid by defendants.

The case was dropped in January 2013 because Betts couldn’t afford to hire legal representation.

Link to the document on TMZ

2. Tattoo & “Sixteenth Chapel” on Letterman

June 2012

Justin Bieber’s appearance on David Letterman in June 2012 was an entertaining encounter, with Dave poking fun at Bieber’s new tattoo and his reference to the “Sixteenth Chapel.” Even though some have suggested that Justin was uncomfortable and that Dave crossed lines, the exchange appeared to be all in good fun.

Letterman: Explain this to me – is that a new tattoo?
Bieber: This is a new tattoo.
Letterman: Oh God. How many do you have?
Bieber: I have just a couple.
Letterman: Well tell me that’s the last one.
Bieber: It might be.
Letterman: No, no. It is. You don’t… I mean honestly. How does that help how you look, to have a tattoo?
Bieber: How does it not… I mean, it doesn’t not help the way I look. It just expresses.. Yesterday my album came out. It was an important day for me, so, you know, I got “Believe…”
Dave: (Reaches over) Get that off of there… (Grabs Justin’s arm)
Bieber: Hey hey hey! Hey this is brand new!
Bieber: (laughs) Grandpas…
Letterman: You know what you did just then? You went “Hey hey hey hey!”
Bieber: Yeah that was the Canadian in me.
Letterman: (laughs) But now, your mom can’t be pleased with the tattoos.
Bieber: Mom, she..
Letterman: Does mom have a tattoo?
Bieber: She doesn’t.
Letterman: I didn’t think so. Does Dad have a tattoo?
Bieber: Yeah.
Letterman: Oh..But do me a favor, don’t go nuts. You know what I mean.
Bieber: No I won’t.
Letterman: Because more and more you see like the mural, like the Sistine Chapel on a… It’s too much.
Bieber: I’m not going for the Sixteenth Chapel. Look…
Letterman: (Laughs and looks at camera) Canadian high school!

1. Knocked Unconscious by Glass Wall

May 2012

The end of May 2012 saw a crazy week for Justin Bieber. First, he had an altercation with a photographer, then his single “Die in Your Arms” was released, and then TMZ reported that Justin suffered a concussion during a concert in Paris which resulted in Justin briefly fel unconscious after his set. This came only hours after reports of nearly 100 injuries at a free Justin Bieber concert in Norway.

Chaos in Norway

The free concert in Norway was held on the roof of an opera house in Oslo. No one was prepared for the rush of excited teenagers, which filled the streets and caused “chaos.” Though only 4000 tickets were available for the concert, it was estimated that 5000-6000 were in attendance. Watch the video below for a better idea of what transpired in Norway.

Justin vs. the Glass Wall

Justin had a well-known incident in 2010 in which he hit his head in a glass revolving door. The May 2012 clash with a glass wall occurred during a concert. Even though he managed to finish the show, he passed out briefly after the performance and was diagnosed with a concussion.

Justin updated his fans directly on the incident, and confirmed that he spoke with TMZ. Here are Justin’s tweets on the matter:

• that happened. at least we finished the show. lol. smh
• i will see u again Glass. I will have my revenge. BIEBER vs GLASS. MGM LAS VEGAS 2013. lol. #GottaLaughAtYourself
• 

  This was Justin’s first encounter with a glass door.

  @scooterbraun just got a call from @tmz about me running into a glass wall. i answered. gotta laugh at yourself sometimes.

• gonna eat, rest, get some sleep and tomorrow Im back at it. The show must go on! Love yall. We got this.
• the fact you all knew what happened before my mom even did is impressive. lol. I have amazing fans. very grateful for your love.
• @thatrygood just let me know this bump on my forehead is permanent. lol. #classic
• im Canadian. we are tough. lol. its all good. just gotta take it easy the rest of the night. back at it again for u guys tomorrow. thanks
• thanks for the love but there are alot of people out there who need prayers. im fine. just smacked my head and needed some water. all good

Which viral Justin Bieber hoaxes, rumors, or odd news do you remember?