Justin Bieber was in the Netherlands over the weekend for a concert in the Dutch city of Arnhem. On Friday night, Biebs visited the Anne Frank House, and apparently spent a good two hours in the museum.
Following his visit, the Anne Frank House Facebook page published his photo, together with what he wrote in the house’s guestbook, a gesture the house’s Facebook page does with every celebrity who visits.
Biebs wrote: “Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.”
hmmmm, OK?
Needless to say, the comment made the Internet explode, since about 60% of it is already dedicated to either loving or hating Bieber.
Comments like, ” I just can’t believe that he would turn something that important into a publicity platform for himself. What a dirtbag.” was just the tip of the iceberg.
True Beliebers (who did not spend their childhood hiding in the attic from occasional Nazis) said in his defense that he is “just a human” and that it is “ironic that all of you are spewing hate. Isn’t this why Anne Frank and countless others had to go into hiding?”
Good point. Missing the point a little, but a good point.
Nevertheless, the museum also came to Biebs’ defense with this backhanded explanation Tweet:
‘He’s 19, it’s a strange life he’s living, it wasn’t very sensible but he didn’t mean bad…’ – @annefrankhouse press office
— anna holligan (@annaholligan) April 14, 2013
And according to BuzzFeed, “During Bieber’s tour, a guide pointed out that Frank was a fan of pop culture and she might have been a fan of his.”
The highest authority of offensiveness, Abe Foxman of the ADL, said that Frank was a fan of celebrities and pop culture so he doesn’t “see anything wrong” with what Bieber wrote, so at least Biebs dodged that bullet.
It’s hard to know what to think, if we should think about this at all. He did spend 2 hours as 19-year old learning about Anne Frank, but he also can’t see past his own fame. Here’s to hoping he gets back to writing songs…
