Being a tourist can be rough. There’s the jetlag, the question of whether to fanny pack or not, the danger of making a buffoon out of oneself because one fails to honor local customs. Yup, it’s a minefield, one made even more minefield-esque when you travel as much as Justin Bieber.
The Biebs has managed to stick his foot in it in more than a few places over the years — although most of the time with the best of intentions. His most recent folly? He took a photo of himself in Tokyo in front of a very infamous landmark: the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors former military leaders from Japan’s imperial army who committed war atrocities in China and other regions in Asia during the Pacific War.
“I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer,” Bieber said of the incident, deleting the photo, which had racked up 660,000 likes in the meantime.
“Oops” is a word that could be used in this case — times a thousand.
Check out four more times Bieber was slapped on the wrist by the almighty museum guard we call life.
1. The Anne Frank House
If you’ve been to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam in the last year, you have likely seen gaggles of teenage girls flipping through the guestbook. Why? Because the Biebs once etched onto its pages the now immortal words: “Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber,” referring to the teenage Holocaust victim.
Bieber’s comment drew ire from those who believed the pop star was being insensitive, but also support from folks like Howard Stern, who gave the Biebs props for visiting the heartbreaking museum in the first place.
2. The Former Hotel Nacional
For a while there, graffiti was Bieber’s “new hobby” — his “escape.” That is, until people started getting mad about his toy-status tags.
In particular, the pop singer found himself in some roiling, boiling water with local authorities after tagging the former Hotel Nacional in Rio de Janeiro.
Where’s your Chanel ski mask when you need it, kid?
3. The Stanley Cup
While in Chicago to play a show at the United Center, Bieber reached out and gave the most coveted trophy in North American ice hockey a hearty rub. It was that rub that was the rub — in that it rubbed fans the wrong way. It was also the second time the hockey-loving Canadian had his mitts on the prize, the first being in 2010.
“Justin Bieber got to touch the Stanley Cup. Disgrace to the game, to Chicago, and to humanity in general,” one fan in particular tweeted, according to the BBC, while another raged: “Justin Bieber has touched the Stanley Cup more times than some of the best hockey players to ever live. Fury.”
We look with our eyes, not our hands, Justin.
4. The Great Wall Of China
Why walk when you can sit on the shoulders on giants? When Bieber visited the Great Wall of China, he eschewed those things we mortals call “feet” and let his bodyguards carry him all the way to the top.
Jokes, naturally, ensued — to which we contributed.
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