Justin Bieber couldn't possibly do
anything dumber, he does
something that makes you do a
double face palm. Bieber is truly
achieving the impossible: He's
making Lindsay Lohan look good.
So what did Bieber do this time?
Well, over the weekend he stopped
at the Anne Frank House in
Amsterdam. This museum is
dedicated to preserving the memory
of Anne Frank, whose chronicle of her
family's efforts to hide from the Nazis
during World War II would later
become "The Diary of Anne Frank."
Bieber ended his visit by writing in
the Holocaust memorial's guest
book: "Truly inspiring to come here.
Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she
would have been a belieber."
For those who wonder what he's
talking about, a "belieber" is a term
used to describe one of Bieber's
devoted fans. Apparently Bieber's
take-away from visiting this
Holocaust memorial was that he
hoped that Anne Frank would've
been a fan of his music. He may have
just redefined the word
"narcissistic."
There is a silver lining to this. Some
of his young fans tweeted that they
had never heard of Anne Frank.
Consequently, the controversy
surrounding his comments
apparently raised awareness about
the horrors of the Holocaust to some
young people previously unfamiliar
with it. And the Anne Frank House
praised Bieber's visit.
It was being gracious. But Bieber
really needs to stop talking for a
while. And I don't say that as
someone who harbors an
inappropriate amount of dislike for
the teen singer. In fact, last May I
wrote a piece for CNN.com defending
and actually sympathizing with
Bieber when he had an altercation
with the paparazzi.
But that was almost a year ago. Since
then, Bieber has become
unbearable.
In the last month alone, we have
watched Bieber caught on tape
being restrained by his bodyguards
as he unleashed a stream of
obscenities and threatened
members of the paparazzi with
physical violence. He also allegedly
spit in the face of one of his
neighbors and threatened him after
the neighbor complained that
Bieber was driving his Ferrari at 100
mph in their gated community.
Then we saw Bieber storm out of his
March birthday party like a spoiled
child calling it the "worst birthday."
He went on to show up almost an
hour late for his concert in London.
And in January, photos surfaced of
Bieber smoking what the website
TMZ said appeared to be weed with
his friend rapper, Lil Twist.
I get it. Bieber wants the world to
know he isn't a kid anymore. So he
has decided to go the "bad ass"
route.
But Bieber will never, ever be the
tough guy he wants to be. Why? For
starters, he's Canadian. When you
think Canada, you think nice, often
overly polite people -- not thugs.
Second, Bieber is 5 feet 7 inches tall
and weighs 130 pounds. Those
measurements say "horse jockey,"
not scary guy. (Sure, actor Joe Pesci is
only 5 feet 4 inches tall and known as
a tough guy, but Pesci is Sicilian and
was born in Newark, New Jersey, not
London, Ontario.)
Bieber is clearly heading down the
path of many child stars desperate to
make the transformation into
grown-up star. But his actions are
not getting him there. Instead, he is
becoming a walking punch line.
He has a few options. He could
simply retire and enjoy his wealth.
Estimates are that he is worth more
than $100 million. Not bad for a 19-
year-old kid -- from Canada. But it's
unlikely that Bieber will take that
route.
The other option is to avoid the fate
of past teen stars who have ended
up behind bars or worse as they
struggled toward adulthood.
Instead, he could follow the lead of
another Justin: Justin Timberlake. He,
too, was a young star. First on "The
Mickey Mouse Club" and then in the
much better known boy band 'N
Sync. Timberlake didn't try to be
something he's not. He continued to
make music and then made a
successful transition into acting.
Decision time is now for Justin
Bieber: He can be a Timberlake or a
cautionary tale that parents tell their
kids who want to go into show
business. What's it going to be
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