It was a quiet Saturday. Too quiet. Justin Bieber and recent partner in alleged crime , Khalil Sharieff, sucking down on a stripper’s best bits flashed up on my laptop at roughly 14:04 pm ET, courtesy of TMZ.
It’s quite the picture. You’ll need to see it for yourself. Here .
The money shot shows a headless female with reportedly fake breasts, a Playboy tattoo, and definitely not regulation panties, proffering her bought assets to the dual attentions of Bieber and Sharieff who gamely bite down, eyes closed, because this ain’t a guy thing right?
Both boys look enraptured with the breast licking and who knows if there was more to come, or whether Miss Playboy collected her cash and went home for a night in with Homeland.
TMZ say sources – make that money-thirsty informants but lets not quibble – revealed the stripper was hired to “perform” for Justin and his friends at a party inside the teen singer’s recording studio at his Calabasas, Los Angeles home. There’s no date provided but we’re told it’s “recent.”
Tales of strippers attending Bieber’s “Great Gatsbyesque,” house party in Calabasas, CA, exploded into the slipstream when the story broke last November and many were shocked.
But that was then.
We now live in a post-apocalyptic Bieberverse in which strip club visits, brothels, “morning after” viral sleeping videos filmed by Brazilian escorts, toxicology reports , criminal charges , immigration perils , a probably-not-the-last-mug-shot , jostle with more innocent memories.
Like the sneak footage of Justin peeing into a New York restaurant mop bucket that surfaced last July. Or the countless stories of “turnt up” behavior we’ve all come to know, tut over, and expect from Stratford, Ontario’s, finest.
And yet.
Bieber and Khalil’s stripper photo isn’t dissimilar to an outtake from any frat house Friday; Poker night with Leo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill; a Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty-attended party back in the old days; over 50% of US television programming and is – I dare say – most typical males’ idea of a good time.
The difference, of course, is that the people and instances mentioned above don’t have an insatiable entertainment complex on their back ready to pay top dollar to any snitch with a camera phone in quite the same way the Biebs does.
There’s no doubt about it. Bieber is in the crosshairs on two fronts — legal and media. Over 220,000 signed a White House deportation petition to ship his drop-crotch posterior back to the Great White North. But millions more can’t get enough of his teen rebellion, which is why we can’t stop watching and why so many outlets have refocused their resources on it.
Don’t be fooled by the gnashing. Alleged criminal activity aside, “bad boy Bieber” — if we must label — is great for on and offline 24/7 news cycles, talk show monologues, comedy shows, and the chattering churning that is our pop culture.
Bottom line: It’s unreasonable, even oppressive, to hold pop stars to role model expectations. Parent, guardian, mentor, teach your own kids. Don’t expect a stranger with a microphone who’s still growing up himself to do it.
That expectation, that burden, is likely part of what’s causing Bieber’s breakout. Most kids go through a wild phase, his was delayed by fame and is now played out in all its uncomfortable glory — publicly.
As for the stripper: if Rihanna and Miley’s monetized gyrations can make them post-modern feminists , where is the difference in real terms?