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No, Justin Bieber Didn’t Shade Prince At ‘Last Greatest Living Performers’ Instagram Tribute

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 20:53 PST, Apr 21, 2016

Justin Bieber and the (late) legendary Prince don’t usually appear in the same sentences. Until now.

The reason? A reportedly fake Instagram comment about the recently deceased music icon, which was evidently intended to appear as if it had been posted by the young Canadian, set off a social media furor on Thursday.

A rep for Bieber has since confirmed to the watchdog site Gossip Cop that the alleged Bieber-remark is completely “fabricated.”

Prince was found dead at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota on April 21. The causes of the 57-year-old’s death are still to be determined by authorities, although TMZ allege he suffered a drug overdose days beforehand.

Where does Justin Bieber fit into this? Amid the tsunami of Prince tributes shared by celebrities and public figures yesterday, the fan-manned Twitter account Shady Music Facts posted a screenshot of a note left at the Instagram account of musician and producer Andrew Wyatt, claiming it was written by Bieber.

In Wyatt’s tribute, the producer wrote about “waking up to this news I am truly beside myself…devastated…the last of the greatest living performers…my guitar idol.”

Shady Music Facts alleged that Bieber shared the following comment at Wyatt’s posting. “Well not the last greatest living performer.” The fan account also added a suggestive lead, which assumed that Bieber was “a little offended” by Wyatt’s description.

Inevitably, random online users at Wyatt’s Instagram page reacted strongly to the alleged comment. Some mused that the Biebs was claiming he is one of the greatest living performers. Others speculated that the 22-year-old was simply saying — albeit in a clumsy way — that there are still great “living” performers to enjoy, even though Prince is now dead.

Either way, Bieber’s rep is clear that the screenshot of the alleged comment is “fabricated” and was not posted by the “Sorry” singer.

Gossip Cop’s report states that, in addition to the rep’s confirmation, they found no legitimate evidence that Bieber had left a comment about Prince anywhere online. The rumor-busting website also pointed out that Shady Music Facts previously posted a screenshot two weeks ago claiming Bieber “liked” a video Donald Trump Instagrammed before the Wisconsin primary. The account also alleged Bieber follows the Republican presidential frontrunner on Twitter.

It was subsequently revealed that both the Trump “like” and Twitter follow screenshots were “fake.”

While there’s plenty of “outrage mileage” to be gained if a screenshot of an Instagram comment is dumped on the Biebs (even if it isn’t authentic, as his rep states), Gossip Cop stressed that “people should place more emphasis on the ‘Shady’ part of the Twitter account’s name and much less on the ‘Music Facts.'”

They are right, of course. Photoshopping online comments is terrifyingly easy to pull off. And even if cynics don’t believe the Biebs’ alleged remark was doctored, given his extremely poor skills in written English, allowing him the benefit of the doubt is the less presumptive option. After all, there actually are great “living” performers around to celebrate. Elton John, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, and Beyonce, to name just a few.

Meanwhile, fans, celebrities, and public figures including President Barack Obama, Justin Timberlake, Frank Ocean, Chris Rock, Jennifer Lopez, Russell Crowe, Madonna, Katy Perry, Reese Witherspoon, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Ellen DeGeneres, Michael Keaton, Quincy Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Harry Styles, and more offered tributes to Prince on and offline on Thursday.

The outpouring will doubtless continue for some time, given that Prince is a true music great, whose influence, talent, innovation, and excellence saw his music claim the top 10 spots on the U.S. iTunes sales singles chart, as well as over 50 songs entering the top 100 the day he died.

As for Bieber, the prince of pop brings his ongoing Purpose World Tour to Chicago’s Allstate Arena for a two-night run from Friday.

[Images via Jason Laveris / Getty / Dave M. Bennet/Getty]

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