Justin Bieber gets Rob Ford’s sympathy after both face assault-related accusations
How do we know that Justin Bieber’s latest legal scrape is serious? Even Rob Ford feels sorry for him.
“He’s a young guy,” the mayor said this morning during one of his regular call-in appearances on a Washington D.C. radio show called The Sports Junkies. “I wish I was as successful as he was. He’s 19 years old. Think about when you were 19.” Maybe what the Stratford-raised pop star needs is a visit to the mayor’s office for some kind of “scared straight”-type intervention.
On Wednesday night, Bieber came to Toronto to surrender himself at 52 Division, on Dundas Street West, where he braved crowds of reporters and fans on his way to the door. He has been charged in connection with the assault of a Toronto limo driver on December 30. His March 10 court date is bound to be one of the weirdest days Old City Hall has ever seen. There are no courtrooms big enough.
Canada isn’t the only country where Bieber’s indiscretions have captured the attention of prominent politicians. A week ago, an anonymous internet jerk created a petition on the White House’s website that demands that the Obama administration “deport Justin Bieber and revoke his green card” as a result of his recent spate of sizzurp sipping, substance-addled drag racing and food wasting.
Because the petition has cleared 100,000 signatures in under 30 days, the White House, under its own rules, is obligated to respond—though it doesn’t need to pretend to take the request seriously. It hardly needs saying that Obama’s people would never embark on an immigration case this way, so whatever they write will probably be disappointing.
Incidentally, were Bieber an American citizen, a DUI or an assault conviction would be enough to get him deemed inadmissible to Canada. Experts think his U.S. immigration status will be fine, as long as he isn’t convicted on any drug charges.
