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Justin Bieber Pleads For ‘Respect’ In Video After Melbourne Fans Mob, Chase Him

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 02:23 PST, Sep 27, 2015

Justin Bieber was mobbed by fans when he arrived at Melbourne Airport in Australia early Sunday for a three day trip, which includes two concerts and an appearance on The X Factor to promote his hit single, “What Do You Mean?” which is No. 1 in the country, and upcoming, November-dropping album.

The airport experience and later chasing of the superstar’s silver Mercedes Benz by fans when he and his crew left his hotel for a Nandos prompted the 21-year-old to share an unprecedented Snapchat video in which he pleaded for fans to treat him with “respect” instead of screaming for pics and creating “chaos.”

Justin flew out from Los Angeles’ LAX airport on a commercial flight on Friday, touching down hours later at Melbourne Airport after the flight was diverted to Sydney then rescheduled to Melbourne.

The superstar covered his recently dyed platinum hair with a beige hoodie, which he teamed with loose-fitting, long, grey shorts as he made his way through the airport to a side door exit, where hundreds of fans were waiting for a glimpse of him.

Justin Bieber
(Photo: Justin Bieber arrived tired but upbeat, according to fans waiting for the singer at Melbourne airport on Sunday, September 27)

Before landing, Justin posted a video and a few pics to his Snapchat while he was on the plane. One snap was captioned “So tired OMG!”

Even with the fatigue that the heartthrob said he felt during his long flight, he high-fived some fans at the airport. One fan, Tess Gia, 25, told AAP, “He was really good and smiling to us all.” She went on to add, “I don’t have tickets to see him while he’s here so I was happy I saw him here, it was my best chance.”

Another, named Tiana, posted a video of Bieber’s arrival exit, which she captioned, “Justin was in such a good mood I’m crying I love him so much.”

Despite these rave reviews of Justin’s emotional state at the airport, tweets from two Melbourne-based radio deejays who are set to interview the singer, fan-obtained videos, and fans’ tweets reveal the singer was mobbed before being whisked to his hotel, and during a subsequent lunch excursion to a Nandos.

The Herald Sun reported that Justin was whisked from Melbourne Airport at around 10.00 a.m. in a chauffeured silver Mercedes Benz to the Park Hyatt hotel, where he is staying while in the city.

According to the paper, the singer left the hotel at about 11.30 a.m. in the Mercedes, flanked by two black Mercedes Benz vans for a Nandos. However, the group were chased all the way by “several cars that had been parked for hours outside the hotel quickly formed a convoy behind Bieber’s entourage.”

Describing the fans’ who have chased Bieber, the publication continued, “They cut each other off and sped down Collins Street, all desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the bleached blonde Justin through the his car’s tinted windows.”

The paper said of fans, “Some even screamed their adoration for Justin out of their open windows, with arms flailing. The wild Bieber chase came to an abrupt halt outside the Clarendon Street Nandos, where Justin and his crew stopped for lunch.”

In the Snapchat clip, an out-of-shot Bieber addressed his fans generally, advising, “The way that you ask or approach me when you want a photo with me is going to determine if I take a photo or not.”

The singer explained, “If I’m walking somewhere or arriving somewhere and you guys are asking to take a photo… if I don’t respond, if I continue just walking, the likelihood is probably that I don’t wanna take a photo at that moment. Now, if you start screaming louder that’s not going to make me wanna take a photo more.”

“I want to enjoy the moment just as you’re enjoying the moment. But, I can’t enjoy it if I’m not feeling like there’s any respect given to me at that moment. So, if you’re asking kindly, usually the chances are I’ll take a photo. But, if perhaps I don’t or I’m in a mood where I’m not trying to take a photo at that moment, please just respect me and just treat me the way that you would want to be treated.”

Justin continued, “That’s all, I just want us to be on the same page. ‘Cause honestly, I’d rather stand there and talk to you for five minutes and not take any photos and us be able to have that moment rather than just chaos.”

“It’s like, why did you travel to see me in the first place? Was it really to see me, or was it to get that moment of you seeing me so that you could tell people about it?”

“Just remember I’m not unreachable. I’m not unattainable. I’m just like you and I can communicate just like you, so next time remember.”

The Herald Sun cited two girls, Isy, 18, and Ellie, 16, who followed the singer to his hotel and saw him skateboarding for a few minutes with his bodyguards.

“He was calm and polite but when people started chasing him he got pretty upset… We heard he went back in his room and is playing Xbox,” Isy told the paper. The Biebs also spent time on a beach in St Kilda.

No doubt, most media will have a field day with Bieber’s respect video and frame it as “bratty” or a “rant.” But another way of seeing the singer’s perspective is to see it as a request for less crazy from fans so that he can give more of himself when he meets them.

It’s also worth noting he took numerous photos with fans and performed skateboarding tricks for them shortly after he posted the video, and will likely continue to throughout his visit to Australia and beyond.

On Monday, the Biebs will play a concert at 2DayFM’s World Famous Rooftop World Famous Rooftop to a select group of fans. The next day he will perform on The X Factor, before delivering a show from “Bieber Island” at Sydney Harbour for an iHeartRadio event on Wednesday. Optus and Channel Seven’s Sunrise are also involved in the concert, which is for fans who won tickets.

Perhaps the rest of Bieber’s stay in Australia will pass peacefully. The singer’s last tweet of the night (by U.S. time) revealed he appreciated the down-under welcome.

Justin Bieber
(Photo: A smiling Bieber meeting — presumably — relatively calm fans in Melbourne)

[Splash News / AAP Image]

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