COMMENTARY | Justin Bieber smoking weed is causing a controversy all over the internet. Friends of Justin Bieber are apparently not denying that the pop star is smoking weed, but instead put the blame on the influence of friends like Lil Twist. Some people say this amounts to “blame the black guy” and the focus of these comments strike me as somewhat racist. Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
Lil Twist is a 19-year-old rapper named Christopher Moore who apparently has been friends with Justin Bieber for years now. They even share matching tattoos. According to the National Post , Lil Twist is signed with Lil Wayne’s record label Young Money and is set to release his delayed debut studio album Don’t Get it Twisted in the spring of 2013.
Here’s a lyrical sample from Lil Twist’s song Turn’t Up :
“Who’s f—in’ with me?/ Ain’t a n–ga that’s f—in’ with me/ Who’s f—in’ with me?/ Ain’t a n–ga that’s f—in’ with me NOPE!”
People like Hollywood Life are declaring that Justin Bieber should end the friendship:
“In my opinion, Lil’ Twist is to blame for Justin’s recently erratic behavior. According to TMZ , it was Lil’ Twist who was rolling what appeared to be marijuana at the hotel party, and it was Lil’ Twist who was with Justin when he met Barbara Palvin and took a pic of them together! As soon as Justin met Barbara, he and Selena started having problems.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Lil Twist was the one caught behind the steering wheel of Bieber’s white Ferrari that was pulled over by police when paparazzo Chris Guerra was killed. With a background like this, even friends and family are concerned:
“[Friends and family are] deeply concerned that Twist has become a powerful negative influence in [Justin’s] life and feel very strongly [that he] needs a clean break from the rapper or else bad things are going to happen.”
Shortly after the Justin Bieber marijuana scandal broke, Hollywoodlife reports the 18 year old tweeted his rapper pal Lil Twist:
“Member u were in the baby video @liltwist. we’ve been good friends for A LONG time.”
Justin Bieber’s issue isn’t with Lil’ Twist. Instead, he’s upset with the so-called friend who sold the photos for a pretty decent chunk of change:
“Justin feels betrayed by someone who sold these pictures for $25,000 who he thought was a friend.”
On the other hand, I say that Justin Bieber needs to take personal responsibility for his own actions. The Newport Beach Police Department is reportedly looking into allegations that Justin Bieber broke the law within the bounds of their jurisdiction. I’m sure Justin Bieber has other friends who may be providing negative influences, but Justin Bieber chose to follow in their potentially illegal actions. In fact, the photos purportedly showing Justin Bieber smoking weed are a case in point for why blaming only Lil Twist might be considered racism:
While the photos clearly show Justin Bieber partying with multiple white people, Lil Twist and his brother, who were claimed to be busy rolling joints, are nowhere to be seen. So I have to question the latent racism for why people are choosing to single out the black guy when it’s obvious the negative influences extend beyond race. True, it may be argued that the black Lil Twist is a particularly close friend, and thus more likely to influence Justin Bieber, but why does race even come up at all. I don’t question that Lil Twist might be a bad influence. But shouldn’t people be blaming Justin Bieber himself and not others? Why blame the black guy first and not call out Justin Bieber, saying that he should end his friendship with all of these people?
What do you think about Justin Bieber smoking weed and how people are “blaming the black guy” instead of focusing on the person committing the alleged crime? What do you think about Lil Twist? Should the police investigate and press charges if it’s found the pop star broke the law?
http://youtu.be/A99msaAiEWQ