Justin Bieber’s camp have said the singer is “nursing a knee injury” in response to flak after fans posted photos of the 20-year-old in a wheelchair during his recent trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, with pals including teen songstress Madison Beer.
Bieber was accused by unidentified malcontents of riding around in wheelchair “to cut lines” at the amusement park, even though celebrities and public figures invariably pay for escorts at Disneyland (or are given them), and other such places to avoid crowd mayhem and safety issues.
Amid the pitchfork gathering, TMZ published a statement from Bieber’s people, writing:
“Justin’s camp tells us he was nursing a knee injury from basketball — and only sat in the wheelchair for a few moments. We’re told he did NOT use it to cut lines … and in fact, he wouldn’t need to since Disney already escorts him into rides to avoid huge crowds.”
A knee injury. A previously arranged escort. So simple. So logical.
(5) Justin meeting fans at Disneyland (July 18th, 2014) pic.twitter.com/E82MTGlihE
— Justin Bieber News ™ (@BelieveTUpdates) July 19, 2014
(4) Justin meeting fans at Disneyland (July 18th, 2014) pic.twitter.com/NOOKCFhaDl
— Justin Bieber News ™ (@BelieveTUpdates) July 19, 2014
Given that celebrities either pay for or are provided with escorts in many public places, it’s interesting that the first reflex of many media outlets was mean-spirited assumptions over a claim with an illogical premise and about a singer known to be sports-mad.
Incidentally, multiple time-stamped tweets indicate reports that Bieber visited the Happiest Place on Earth on Sunday, July 20 are incorrect. The singer and his crew were spotted at Disneyland on Friday, July 18.
Although the brouhaha kicked off after fans posted photos of the Canadian in a wheelchair before TMZ were sent an explanation from Bieber’s team, it’s also telling that E!News Ken Baker’s previous comments that the singer most likely had an sports injury didn’t raise more red flags over this story.
On Tuesday, Baker called into Ryan Seacrest’s radio show and said: “This is turning into a potential scandal, but no one knows what’s happening.”
After mentioning people were “getting annoyed because they felt like he [Bieber] was using the wheelchair… in order to get to the front of the line on the rides at Disneyland” — Baker added:
“He [Bieber] probably just had a sore leg because he played basketball or something.”
As it turns out, Ken was dead right.
As usual with these kind of stories about Bieber , they gather traction because misinformed sources are cited, or occasionally even invented .
Those unidentified folk who reportedly thought the wheelchair gave Bieber an unfair bump, weren’t aware that celebrities of a certain wattage don’t wait in Disneyland lines — or any lines, for that matter.
That’s their excuse, what’s ours?
