Justin Bieber Gets Overblown Heat After Jokey Horseplay With Chris Brown In Pic

Justin Bieber is currently getting some heat after posting an Instagram pic of him jokingly holding his buddy, singer Chris Brown, by the neck in a faux “strangling” pose.

The 20-year-old shared the snap early Monday, after he and close friend Hailey Baldwin, hung out with Brown and mutual gal pal, model Kendall Jenner, in Washington State on Sunday.

“Had fun with the homey @Chrisbrownofficial,” Justin captioned the snapshot.

But while the Biebs’s faux, “strangling” shot was lightheartedly undertaken — based on his caption, and the expression on both his and Brown’s faces — some social media users left angry comments at the Canadian’s Instagram page.

Those doing the complaining cited Brown’s violent attack on his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, and demanded that the “Baby” star delete the photo.

There appears to be three issues in play. Bieber. Brown. And the phenomenon of a good-old-fashioned social media stoning.

In Forbes magazine’s opening paragraph in their just-updated entry on the superstar, the publication accurately describes the heartthrob as a “media punching boy.”

Undeniably, the once-beloved singer’s legal troubles have made headlines, while those of most other celebrities get far less criticism, and even receive back slaps.

Time and again, mean-spirited media outlets offer ugly snark, and often slander, in reports on Bieber that deserve investigative narratives, or at least recognition that a then-teenager was struggling during 2013 and some of 2014.

Moving on to Brown. Following his assault on Rihanna, the singer was put on probation for felony assault in 2009. Fast forward to 2014, he was jailed for 131 days after breaching his probation following an assault of a man in Washington D.C., for which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was released in June after time served.

In between those years, Brown and Rihanna “made amends” and even dated again. More recently, on Hot 97’s “Ebro In The Morning,” he said he feels “remorse” about the abusive event, but is also sick of apologizing.

Brown said: “You can only say it but so many times, and I feel like through the years I’ve said it enough, to where it’s like, ‘Bro, if you’re still on that, I feel sorry for y’all, because it’s over with.'”

In comparison, Mark Walhberg has not yet apologized to any of the victims involved in the past assaults and incidents he took part in the ’80s, and for which he served just 45 days in prison for beating Johnny Trinh — one of the two Vietnamese men he attacked during an attempted robbery in 1988.

Although it’s since been revealed by the The Daily Mail that Walhberg punched Trinh in an already damaged glass eye and did not blind him, the fact remains that the actor has had years to apologize to his victims and failed to, but now that he’s looking for a pardon he’s willing.

Walhberg, like many actors in Hollywood, has since gone on to make his fair share of films that depict violence in a Hollywood culture that dumps brutality, beatings, death, gore and glamorized and one-liner beatdowns into lives via television, videos, games and in movie theaters.

Where is the outrage over this ceaseless, desensitization to violence?

[ Warning: shocking images.]

Wherever one stands on past and present offenders, and concepts of redemption, change and forgiveness, there is one thing many seem to agree on: the remote joy of a collective, virtual kicking.

The late Joan Rivers slams Selena Gomez over a pacificist Instagram post on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Ray Rice’s attack on his fiancee; Solange’s elevator fury at brother-in-law Jay Z; Piers Morgan’s petition moment in the sun for his comments on gun regulation; division over protests for Ferguson and Eric Garner, and Rupert Murdoch’s comments on Ridley Scott’s impossibly white Exodus.

All inspired acres of media and social media comment.

Now, it’s Bieber’s turn in the hot seat for the kind of horseplay that males in particular, but not exclusively, engage in the world over.

The only difference? Not all of them are famous.

[Images via kristonian123.blogspot/Instagram]