It's difficult not to feel sorry for Justin Bieber. Exploited himself, in the lucrative business that is stripping money from the pockets of the parents of young girls, he is now accused of letting his audience down, by turning up late for a concert at the O2 Arena this week. The 19-year-old is reported as having difficulty with handling his massive, worldwide fame. He has also been hospitalised for unexplained respiratory problems. Perhaps he is simply coming to the terrible realisation that his fans have been brought up in a culture that promotes both the cult of celebrity and the knowledge from early childhood that the transition to adult sexuality is already beckoning. It's Bieber's blandness, his lack of sexual threat, his offer of a safe environment for children's hysteria that has brought him his fame – not talent. I'd have difficulty breathing if I were him too.
Justin Bieber, I pity him | Deborah Orr
Deborah Orr
Perhaps Bieber is coming to the realisation that fame is not all it is cracked up to be
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Deborah Orr
Deborah Orr, an award-winning journalist and author, edited the Guardian's Weekend Magazine from 1993-98 and was a columnist for two decades at the Guardian and the Independent. She died, age 57, in October 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/oct/21/deborah-orr-obituary
Deborah Orr
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