Justin Bieber: Where is Usher (and/or other mentors)?

[prberk]

OK, Usher and some others plucked 13-year-old Justin Bieber from obscurity and brought him headlong into a dizzying world of glitz and glamour... and obviously fake friends.

I guess my point is, when people like Bieber start spiraling out of control, as has become apparent with him with his third arrest this morning and at least a year's worth of arrogant bad behavior, where are the people who brought them into the limelight?

On Beiber's wikipedia page, it even names people that his manager and Usher assigned to him in the early days for imagemaking.

If they took such care to craft his image (and affect his real decisions) at that time, then where are these people now, when he needs them?

This story is told way too often. I know that money and power become powerful drugs, and that these young stars make their own mistakes and contribute to their own problems. But I also wonder, "Where are the people who care for them?" And can the people like Usher, who groom these kids and introduce them to the pop world, be expected to help them manage it?

I know that, legally, Usher and his imagemakers bear no responsibilbity for his current behavior; but I would think that they would call him up, meet him, and let him know he is mesing up.

The second thing I think about these folks, is where are your real friends? Maybe Usher or your manager won't help, but don't you wonder whether these folks have any real friends (not their posse that is on the gravy train, but real friends) who will call them and tell them the truth?

A real friend (someone who is there for you, and will tell you what you NEED to hear, not what you want to hear) is so much more valuable than the money to rent fancy cars.... Just my thoughts.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I imagine Usher & the like are busy with their own lives. Who knows if they've called JB or tried to offer advice or not? Teenagers don't typically take that sort of thing so well. What I'd like to know is where is this kid's parents during all this? Seems to me he's lacking guidance. Guidance starts with parenting. I promise you if this was one of my sons you'd see additional headlines to the effect of "Pop Star's Mother Arrested for Breaking a Foot Off in Kid's Butt". You'd never have to wonder where I was in all the acting out. You'd definitely know I was there doing what I could. You hear absolutely nothing of JB's parents unless it's the kid going to get another new tattoo with his dad or something.

 

[JenniferS]

I imagine Usher & the like are busy with their own lives. Who knows if they've called JB or tried to offer advice or not? Teenagers don't typically take that sort of thing so well. What I'd like to know is where is this kid's parents during all this? Seems to me he's lacking guidance. Guidance starts with parenting. I promise you if this was one of my sons you'd see additional headlines to the effect of "Pop Star's Mother Arrested for Breaking a Foot Off in Kid's Butt". You'd never have to wonder where I was in all the acting out. You'd definitely know I was there doing what I could. You hear absolutely nothing of JB's parents unless it's the kid going to get another new tattoo with his dad or something.

Sycophantic parents on the payroll are useless!

 

[Ariel484]

I imagine Usher & the like are busy with their own lives. Who knows if they've called JB or tried to offer advice or not? Teenagers don't typically take that sort of thing so well. What I'd like to know is where is this kid's parents during all this? Seems to me he's lacking guidance. Guidance starts with parenting. I promise you if this was one of my sons you'd see additional headlines to the effect of "Pop Star's Mother Arrested for Breaking a Foot Off in Kid's Butt". You'd never have to wonder where I was in all the acting out. You'd definitely know I was there doing what I could. You hear absolutely nothing of JB's parents unless it's the kid going to get another new tattoo with his dad or something.

I'm pretty sure I heard that this dad was there with him when the drag racing stuff was going on. In the beginning I remember his mom traveling with him and whatnot. Pretty sure @JenniferS hit it on the head. People just get crazy when there's that much money involved.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Let me preface this by saying I'm about as far from being a Justin Bieber fan as one could possibly be, but I happened to see an article while I was at work the other day. It noted that Usher jetted down to Panama to be with Bieber after he made bail and left the country. I can't find that article...but this one also notes it...

http://in.omg.yahoo.com/news/39-bailed-39-justin-bieber-goes-shirtless-panama-075409675.html

 

[luv]

He should plead Affluenza and go to a California spa instead of jail.

I hope this kid gets the help he needs.

 

[englanddg]

He just needs to go.

I don't blame those who "brought him to stardom"...how he's handled his stardom is a reflection of his poor character, and his parents were along for the ride. He's in a situation where he thinks he is king of the world, and he's finding out he's not.

Good.

Had he stayed some random youtube "star", he would have been in jail a long time ago.

As far as him and his family, they have more money than most could even imagine having, they'll be fine. Well, unless his parents spend it all while he's in the pokey.

 

[unkadug]

He just needs to go.

I don't blame those who "brought him to stardom"...how he's handled his stardom is a reflection of his poor character, and his parents were along for the ride. He's in a situation where he thinks he is king of the world, and he's finding out he's not....
Had he stayed some random youtube "star", he would have been in jail a long time ago.

Is there really such a thing as a YouTube star? Does 2 million hits equate to anything worthwhile? Can you buy a mansion in Casabalas from your YouTube stardom?

As far as him and his family, they have more money than most could even imagine having, they'll be fine. Well, unless his parents spend it all while he's in the pokey.

I don't know...I heard he was spending 1 Million per month on partying on E!...How does one even DO that?

I wish I could be the bartender for one night of that party! $$$

 

[stevehousse]

He's turned into the male version of Lindsay Lohan, period!

BTW, have you seen the new picture of him and his friend suckin on a strippers ?!? LOL and yes I'm being serious...what a train wreck!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Saw this last night when we were watching the Syracuse/Duke game and immediately thought of this thread. Of course it works well for me as I'm a Syracuse alum/fan.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

He's turned into the male version of Lindsay Lohan, period!

BTW, have you seen the new picture of him and his friend suckin on a strippers ?!? LOL and yes I'm being serious...what a train wreck!

I believe he was biting it.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

 

[Pocahontas]

He makes poor, poor choices. He should be mature enough to expect consequences, but I don't think we can trust him to be mature. He was drag racing under the influence (quite illegally, might I add), putting not only himself in danger, but everybody who was on the road. That says a lot about him. He's 19... It's not like I didn't see this coming, though. I only hope he learns a few lessons and gets some sense knocked into him.

 

[prberk]

He makes poor, poor choices. He should be mature enough to expect consequences, but I don't think we can trust him to be mature. He was drag racing under the influence (quite illegally, might I add), putting not only himself in danger, but everybody who was on the road. That says a lot about him. He's 19... It's not like I didn't see this coming, though. I only hope he learns a few lessons and gets some sense knocked into him.

And from what I understand, he had adults (alleged to have included his father) blocking the side streets with cars for him to do it. Again, where are there people in his life who will stand up and say "NO"?

Don't get me wrong: I do think that he bears repsonsibility. I just think it is sad when these people have no one around them that is friend or parent enough to reach them (and of course, they may rebuff that person, but most people have at least one person in their life that can get to them with reality).

And I think that the Ushers of the world would know about the pitfalls of stardom and should at least talk to them or try to warn their young charges from whom they are usually making some money.

 

[prberk]

I also wonder if Justin Bieber was trying to "drown his sorrows" after realizing that he was not even on the guest list for the Grammies.

I think he has been told so many times that he is great, that this new reality is perhaps too sobering.

By the way, for those of you who have drawn comparisons to Michael Jackson, I saw even more of that the other day when I saw an archival photo of a footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. There is a picture of MJ's kids signing and posting their footprints there (for a thing honoring MJ), and there is Justin Bieber, right in the middle of it all.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

 

[prberk]

From the Today show on NBC this morning:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...clusive-inside-story-biebers-pot-plane-n22056

Flying High? Exclusive Inside Story on Bieber's 'Pot' Plane
By Richard Esposito
Justin Bieber and his father [emphasis added] were “extremely abusive” to a flight attendant as their private jet flew from Canada to New Jersey on Friday, forcing her to take refuge in the cockpit, according to an official report obtained exclusively by NBC News.
According to multiple law enforcement sources, the leased, luxurious Gulfstream IV on which the 19-year-old Canadian pop star, his father and an entourage of 10 friends traveled was so full of marijuana smoke that the pilots were forced to wear oxygen masks.
“The captain of the flight stated that he warned the passengers, including Bieber, on several occasions to stop smoking marijuana,” says the official report of the incident. “The captain also stated he needed to request that the passengers stop their harassing behavior toward the flight attendant and after several warnings asked the flight attendant to stay with him near the cockpit to avoid any further abuse.”
According to multiple sources, the attendant was forced to spend much of the flight near the pilots as the plane travelled from Canada to Teterboro, N.J.
“The flight attendant stated the passengers, including Bieber and his father, Jeremy Bieber,” stated the report, “were extremely abusive verbally and she would not work another flight with them.”
The pilots, despite a pressurized cabin, were forced to wear their oxygen masks during the flight, according to multiple sources, so that they wouldn’t risk inhaling marijuana and failing any subsequent drug test, which would put their licenses at risk.
According to officials, when the plane landed at Teterboro, a suburban airport that caters to the rich and famous and their private aircraft, it was met by DEA and Customs and Border Patrol agents and police. There was still marijuana smoke inside the cabin, according to the report.
Officials decided to question Bieber separately from the other passengers, said the report, because “in past examinations, Bieber had become argumentative and abusive when together with his security team.”
When interviewed at Teterboro, Bieber admitted smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, but stated that he did not have any additional marijuana.
According to federal and regional sources, the troubled star, his father, and his entourage, who were headed to the New York City area to attend the Super Bowl and related parties, first drove toward the U.S.-Canadian border in a motor coach. They turned back and flew from Waterloo, Ont. to Teterboro instead.

Interior of a Gulfstream IVSP N728LB.
After Bieber’s flight landed Friday, drug-sniffing dogs from Customs and Border Patrol and the New York/New Jersey Port Authority Police Department sat down as they walked around the plane, meaning the dogs were alerting handlers to the possible presence of drugs. Authorities then boarded the jet, which multiple sources said reeked of marijuana. However, no unsmoked weed was found during the search.
The two drug dogs also alerted handlers to the possible presence of drugs in three pieces of luggage. “One bag was labeled as belonging to Justin Bieber, one was listed as belonging to his personal assistant … and one [was] labeled as belonging to his personal trainer.”
The trainer and the assistant “disavowed knowledge of the contents of the bags and stated they were actually Bieber’s bags, but they were forced to place their names on the bags,” according to the report. No “contraband” was found, however.
No members of the flight crew were willing to file charges against their passengers, so Bieber, his father and his friends were allowed to go on their way.
After the Bieber entourage left, however, two sources said that authorities performed another search of the plane and found empty bags that appeared to have once contained marijuana. None of the items could be linked to Bieber, his father, or their guests.
Neither Drug Enforcement Administration officials nor Customs and Border Patrol officials would comment to NBC News. The aviation company that flew the Bieber entourage to New Jersey, Meridian Air Charter, also declined comment.
The incident was the third encounter with law enforcement in recent weeks for Bieber. In late January, he was arrested for alleged drunk driving in Miami after an alleged drag race, and then arrested in Toronto for an alleged assault on a limo driver that occurred in late December.
Bieber had planned to spend Super Bowl weekend at New York City’s Four Seasons hotel, said the report, and depart Monday.
“Bieber … stated he would be watching the game from a private suite in METLIFE stadium, but he was unsure who owned the box he would be staying in. He stated that his assistant would probably know.”
On Sunday, the 19-year-old was shunned at the door of the New York City club 1 Oak and turned away from at least four Super Bowl parties, according to the New York Daily News' Confidential column. [Emphasis added.]
On Tuesday, Bieber settled a Los Angeles lawsuit with his former bodyguard, who accused the pop star of assaulting him in 2012.

[I added the bold letters for emphasis.]

All of this after his legal problems from just last week. His father riding along. Isn't he on probation in at least one city?

Looks like they decided to take a plane, rather than their bus ("motor coach"), so that they could bring their drugs and not get searched at the boarder (and be finished with them by the time they landed and had to deal with border patrol). And would not stop when the pilot asked them to. [Probably should have brought the plane down and went ahead and had them arrested then.]

I find it interesting that his "personal assistant" and "personal trainer" were more than willing to throw him under the bus (or plane, as it were) when it came to the ownership of the bags that might have been carrying contraband.

That should send him a message about their loyalty, and whether they really have his best interests at heart. But even so, if his friends and father won't give him the message, being turned away from the four Super Bowl parties will.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

At this point Justin (and the general public) need to realize the only one who can save him is himself.