Justin Bieber fans are proving they’ll do anything for the teen heart-throb. They are even cutting themselves in an effort to get him to stop doing drugs.
A few months back, emissaries from infamous Internet troll nest /b/ tried to convince Justin Bieber fans that their idol had cancer and that they should cut their hair in support, says Complex Music . And it had a mild degree of success with several fans actually shaving their heads, so 4chan users started another trend on Twitter that is disturbing, to say the least.
Operation Cut For Bieber began with a hashtag on Twitter that proved so successful, it was trending within hours. The origins of the story most likely began with the press release that Justin Bieber had been smoking marijuana to cope with his stress, among other things.
One of several dummy accounts set up by /b/ trolls tweeted:
“You stop using drugs and we’ll stop cutting. You make this world meaningless and we’ve lost hope.”
Due to the nature of the photos involved, I am not showing them here.
@cuttingforbieber you let us down justin. Im going to cut the pain away
— brittany scrapman (@brittanyscrapma) January 7, 2013
Gawker reports that the hashtags #cutforbieber and#cuttingforbieber quickly amassed dozens of photos from young girls who claim to have cut their wrists and forearms over Bieber’s drug use, but how many of the photos are authentic remains unclear, and how many have been seeded by 4chan users.
#cutforbieber is so disrespectful in so many ways, especially for those who deal with self harm everyday. It’s not a joke and makes me sick.
— Rachel Schramm (@rachieschramm) January 7, 2013
All we really know for the moment is that this Twitter trending topic could put many lives at risk, and Bieber fans are willing to do anything for their idol.