Justin Bieber Supported By Ex-Astronaut Chris Hadfield, ‘People Love A Feeding Frenzy’
Justin Bieber isn’t everyone’s cup of tea these days, but retired astronaut Chris Hadfield has just lifted the conversation about the teen polarizer above the gutter and more than halfway to the stars.
The former high-flier was the first Canadian to walk in space and is known to most people for his performance of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in May 2013, when he was commander of the International Space Station during his third and final mission.
Hadfield’s fame soared after the video went viral adding to his already prolific social media engagement during his time in space. As a result, he understands the double-edged sword it can wield and empathizes with Bieber’s public razing.
“Nobody is squeaky clean and people love a feeding frenzy,” he told the Vancouver Sun in a recent interview when asked if he had any ‘Justin Bieber-style’ skeletons in the closet.
“Justin Bieber is just 19 years old,” he replied.”He has had so much fame and success and therefore some sort of expectation put on his shoulders that is completely disproportionate to who he is and what he represents and what he should be expected to do.”
(Photo: Bieber in London in March 2013 during the London leg of his drama-filled Believe tour).
Displaying an empathy sorely missing from many public figures who have weighed in on the incident-prone star – who is facing a charges of assault, driving under the influence and is suspected of egging his neighbor’s house in Los Angeles — the 54-year-old said nothing of these “Bad Boy” examples, but continued,
“It’s incredibly unfair and so I feel for him because he is doing his best and he is a talented guy and a very popular guy,” adding,”but it’s kind of predictably mean the way people want to summarize him in a couple phrases.”
Contrary to recent Bieber critics Ice Cube, Sharon Osbourne, and Judge Judy’s Sheindlin’s dismissal of the “Baby” star as a “f**k up,” a “disposable” talent, and “a fool” respectively — Hadfield said of Bieber,
“I’ve never met him but he is probably a pretty interesting guy. I’ll bet you he has done some cool stuff.”
As someone who literally has looked at earth from a higher perspective it seems Hadfield is doing the same thing in his take on Bieber’s extraordinary 2013-14 transit.
At the end of the interview Hadfield broadened the topic away from just Bieber – whose 20th birthday is now in effect – observing,
“I am just another person. I have been working at this for a long time. I make mistakes every day and I try and notice what I did right and try not to mess up. It’s just life.”
Wisdom.
