(JTA) — The Anne Frank House defended Justin Bieber’s visit to the museum and his guestbook message hoping that the teen diarist "would have been a Belieber."
"The Anne Frank House was pleased to welcome Justin Bieber to the Anne Frank House last Friday. We think it is very positive that he took the time and effort to visit our museum," the Amsterdam-based museum wrote Monday in a post on its Facebook page. "He was very interested in the story of Anne Frank and stayed for over an hour. We hope that his visit will inspire his fans to learn more about her life and hopefully read the diary."
Bieber came under fire for his entry into the Anne Frank House guestbook following his April 12 visit, before a concert in nearby Arnhern.
"Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber," the popular singer wrote.
Many of the hundreds of comments on the Anne Frank House Facebook page chastised Bieber for what they characterized as his insensitive remarks.
TMZ cited an unnamed source as saying that Bieber wrote his Belieber comment after learning that Anne Frank was very interested in pop culture.
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