Updated : Re: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez “cocaine video” allegation.
Kudos to Perez Hilton , who just torpedoed In Touch’s baseless claim.
Hilton obtained a quote from the rep at IOAK Los Angeles — where Bieber and Gomez were alleged to have been caught on video doing lines. As it turns out, the nightclub rep said :
“Justin Bieber has never been to 1OAK LA.”
Note : More stunning even than the ease with which Hilton fact checked this story and killed it, is the reality that Bieber and Gomez appear to have so little faith in this industry’s desire and ability to report with integrity, that they didn’t even bother challenging a rumor they knew wasn’t true.
Original Article :
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were caught snorting cocaine on video, according to In Touch Weekly magazine .
We take a look at the tabloid’s “evidence.”
In Touch have been running increasingly outlandish , hearsay-only based Gomez stories for months, such as their pregnancy /miscarriage and “Gomez is “dying” from lupus claims.
Their ongoing theme is that the actress-singer is in mortal danger from her association with Bieber. Each story was denied on publication, and each was presented with absolutely no corroboration.
This week’s? Justin and Selena are cocaine fiends.
It’s alleged the recently reunited Bieber and Gomez can be seen “snorting cocaine” on video footage that was “secretly recorded” during a Studio 54-like night of partying at 1OAK in Los Angeles on Monday, June 16.
The on-again, off-again couple have been seen on a slew of dates last week such as a trip to Los Angeles zoo since their recent reunion .
The magazine claims an alleged source states the 20-year-old “Baby” singer and 21-year-old “Come & Get It” starlet “got caught doing lines” and “have been partying non-stop” since reuniting – and further, didn’t care “who saw them partying.”
As well as failing to provide any physical evidence to support its claim, In Touch suspiciously provides itself with a built-in get-out-of-jail-card as to why the alleged Bieber-Gomez cocaine tape may never see the light of day.
“The video is pretty dark and fuzzy but someone’s trying to get paid for it,” the tabloid writes.
The contradictory suggestion is that Bieber and Gomez will pay to suppress an alleged video on which nothing can be seen, which immediately prompts the question “Then why bother?”
The story also plays on the public’s recent memory of Bieber’s yesteryear “racist” videos.
The clever implication, if his team paid to cover those up (which went well didn’t it?), why not a murky “cocaine video”?
But, going by In Touch’s own storyline, if the loved-up pair were reckless enough not to care if they were seen taking cocaine in the first place, there should be a lot more of these videos knocking about.
Speaking of which, aren’t we all still waiting on OK! magazine’s Bieber-Gomez sex tape?
( Photo: Justin Bieber And Selena Gomez leaving Century City movie theater on their date night, June 20 .)
In response to the claim, a source told Gossip Cop a so-called Jelena cocaine tape “does not exist.”
Gossip Cop notes that no such cocaine video has surfaced, and that their well connected sources say such a video is not being shopped to media outlets. They also make the point that if In Touc h had this video or proof, they’d have run it as a cover story — and they did not.
So what do In Touch have to substantiate their cocaine-snorting video claim?
Short answer: Hearsay.
The story uses the “a source says X, a source says Y” device, which is the bread and butter of tabloids and basically relies on the “It’s true because we said so” premise.
Radar Online, who often operate like a tag team for In Touch, as in “If you report our claims as credible, we”ll do the same,” noted the day after Justin and Selena were supposedly seen hoovering up the white stuff in 1Oak police were called out to Gomez’s home in Hidden Hills, California, after a neighbor reportedly complained about noise.
The incident is mentioned by Radar to support a simplistic narrative that a lot of outlets are going with, namely — Gomez’s descent from Disney star to the Bonnie to Bieber’s Clyde.
As it turns out, E! Online reports Gomez’s so-called out of control “rager” was a tacos and piano music evening with about 20 guests. The outlet confirmed that after police arrived and asked them to dial it down, this was done and everyone was “very cooperative.”
A source told E! the incident “was a non-event” and that “The music may have gotten a little too loud because it was two guys performing and there were speakers, but it definitely wasn’t some out of control party.”
Perez Hilton also questioned why cops were called, and Instavids of the night show a low-key get-together.
In Touch’s Bieber-Gomez snorting cocaine allegation also claims the Spring Breakers star has “lost most of her friends and family” because of her “toxic relationship” with Bieber.
We note Gomez has been spotted with friends in both London and the US after returning from her UNICEF trip to Nepal last month, and was evidently able to fill her house with 20 pals for a tacos night last week.
To put it bluntly, we’re not buying the Bieber-Gomez cocaine video claim until — and if — such a video turns up, shows a verified Jelena taking illicit drugs and confirms that the drug is cocaine. In Touch have been wrong too often in the past to expect people to swallow this story without actual proof.
However, readers may think otherwise. Do you think Selena, and Justin — whose reported drug of choice is marijuana — have moved on to the hard stuff and been caught on video?
Sound off in comments below.
[ Images via MTV.com .]