Justin Bieber spits from his hotel balcony in Toronto is an extraordinary headline.
But the jaw-dropping nature of this puzzling pop star’s latest, bodily fluid snafu doesn’t end there.
“Justin Bieber accused of spitting on fans from hotel balcony” has emerged as the valid and dominant question to this almost unbelievable story.
Pictures of the star standing on his balcony at the Hazelton Hotel with friends before leaning forward to spit over the rail while his fans gathered below, were captured by a freelance photographer, Sean O’Neill, at around 4 pm on Thursday, July 25.
O’Neill said he didn’t realize what his camera had caught until later.
“It was about an hour-and-a-half or two hours later when I was going through the pictures and I thought he was chewing gum,” he told CTV News .
“Sure enough, he was spitting,” the lensman added.
Earlier in the day — before he spat over the hotel balcony — Bieber posted a Instagram video of himself filming the fans waiting outside, along with still shots from the balcony.
The video was captioned: “I wake up this morning to this… best fans in the world #beliebers #sexyfans.”
Hours later the 19-year-old would hit the stage at Toronto’s Air Canada Center for the first show of a two-night run.
Without doubt, Bieber has put himself in an vulnerable position by being photographed spitting in public.
Not just because he is already accused of other instances of alleged spitting, or because spitting in public is unnecessary and horrid unless you’ve just run a 10,000 kilometer marathon.
But, because even without solid evidence that any fans came into contact with Bieber’s saliva, this is what is now being reported in the majority of media reports .
Some outlets state the teen singer is guilty of “disrespecting his fans” and was “showing just what he thought of the throng of adoring girls” outside his hotel.
However, a closer view of Bieber’s hotel balcony as seen at his Instagram account reveals a secondary ledge where — in all likelihood — his spit emissions were aimed.
In addition, claims that he would actually spit on his fans when he has previously given them free food, tickets , and beverages on numerous occasions seem far-fetched, even for Bieber.
Having said that, his actions were astonishingly reckless for someone already trailing staggering levels of bad press.
Regarding the three previous alleged incidents in which Bieber is accused of spitting, one of these is currently being misreported by numerous outlets.
On January 22, “Sweet Carolina Radio host Colette Harrington Schwoeri took to Facebook to write about her encounter with the “Baby” star at the Ritz Carlton Hotel gym in North Carolina.
Schwoeri claimed she asked Bieber to pose for a photo but he declined. She also said he and his companions mocked her workout counts by imitating them and adding expletives.
On Facebook she wrote: “I go back to working out and a take drink from my water bottle only it is Justin’s blue Gatorade. I spit it out right way thinking about his disgusting spit. I did not look at my water bottle before taking a drink.”
Bieber’s rep later denied the woman’s story to TMZ and said Bieber and his pals had been making snide comments to each other, not the radio host. Schwoeri later clarified the ‘spit’ part of her claim in a follow-up Facebook post insisting she “never said” Bieber spat in her drink.
The radio host clarified : “I never said Justin or his posse spit in my drink, in fact, anyone can read the post on my wall about the incident (hours after it happened). I drank JB’s Gatorade thinking it was mine.”
[ Note: *Caps removed from Schwoeri’s post.* ]
She added : “The only thing TMZ asked me is, ‘did I think he left it on purpose.’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, I hope not.’”
In March, Bieber was accused of spitting at and threatening to kill one of his Calabasas, Calif., neighbors during an allegedly heated argument over his alleged reckless driving in the area.
Earlier this month, a Columbus, Ohio based DJ claimed the teen singer spat in his face and swore at him. The accuser, Addison Ulhaq , claims Bieber did so because he was told the DJ was trying to take photos of him in an over 21-bar and lounge.
Ulhaq has since filed a police report but has yet to file criminal charges.
Bieber’s camp have denied any spitting occurred in all three alleged instances.
While it’s undeniable Bieber did spit from his hotel balcony on Thursday, there is no evidence the fluid hit anyone or that it was intended to.
Clearly, none of this is Bieber’s finest hour. But assumptions that the singer was spitting at people aren’t borne out by close-ups of the balcony, and are contradicted by his relationship with his fans.