Justin Bieber Naked Photos Drop: Who Is Feeding TMZ? [Photos]
Justin Bieber ongoing humiliation courtesy of TMZ kicked up several notches today following the website’s publication of naked photos of the singer, with just a guitar covering his private area.
To see the pictures click here.
The website obtained pictures of the considerably less tattooed teen star which were taken at his grandmother’s house in Toronto during Canadian Thanksgiving in October 2012.
In the pictures, the “Baby” singer is seen in one smiling at the camera while strumming a low-slung guitar. The other shows Bieber in a clearly surprise frontal for his grandma who is seen opening a door.
TMZ reports Bieber decided to play the naked prank on his family and friends after he slept in on Thanksgiving morning.
He reportedly stripped and belted out ad-libbed lyrics on his guitar as a joke for the other guests.
“I Loooove you grandmaaaa… how are youuuu… helloooo grandma,” were apparently some of the lyrics he sung to his grandmother.
She reportedly thought the prank was funny then asked her grandson him to put some clothes on.
The new expose follows TMZ’s previous publication of phone footage of Bieber urinating into a mop bucket in the kitchen of a New York City nightclub earlier this year.
The video went viral and also showed the singer cursing at a photo of former president Bill Clinton while his friends cheered in the background.
Following the singer’s apology to Clinton, aides let it be known the 66-year-old forgave the teen but also advised him to be mindful about the likelihood of an informant among his friends — since someone must have provided TMZ with the footage.
While it could have been one [or more] of the NYC kitchen staff who contacted the gossip site, the just surfaced naked pictures of Bieber strongly suggest either someone at his grandmother’s house at the time leaked the photos, or someone who had access to someone’s photos.
But, in addition to the clearly urgent need for the singer to clean house, other questions arise.
If hypothetical naked pictures of Ellen Degeneres messing around with her partner Portia de Rossi on a lazy Sunday morning, or equally hypothetical old, naked shots of actress Lea Michele having playful fun with her late boyfriend Cory Monteith surfaced, would the same ridicule that’s greeted these pictures of Bieber also be extended to them?
Existing laws on censorship, freedom of the press, pornography, and the Shield Law that protects media outlets and journalists’ sources are complex to navigate and offer little help.
While Bieber is known for frequently parading around on and off stage shirtless with low-hanging pants, there is a massive difference between that and full-frontal nude shots (except for a well-placed guitar) being shopped by a third party to a media outlet.
So why is it acceptable for that outlet, who have been overtly gunning for the singer for months, to obtain and publish pictures of a 19-year-old having fun in a private home during a holiday period knowing it will likely violate and humiliate him?
Did TMZ made the judgment call to publish images of Bieber, and not some other celebrity, based on what they think public’s reaction will be?
Put simply: Have they decided it’s acceptable to go after a teenager — uber famous or not — because they think his ongoing negative headlines mean no-one will mind, care, and may actually support that?
If so, the lack of ethics in such a decision is not only regrettable but horrifying.
Usually after famous deaths, commentators and observers often ask why celebrities change over the arc of their careers and become isolated, paranoid, and disconnected from loved ones in their personal lives.
When and why did the relationship between TMZ and Bieber after this 2011 interview go so wrong?
