Justin Bieber on Anne Frank

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22146859

Justin Bieber has caused outrage with his message in a guestbook at the Anne Frank Museum, saying he hoped the Holocaust victim would have been a fan.

The 19-year-old pop idol wrote: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber."

It has provoked fierce online criticism of the Canadian singer, who is in Amsterdam as part of a tour.

The museum defended the star but added his comment "wasn't very sensible".

The Canadian singer's comment was quoted on the Anne Frank House Facebook page following his visit on Friday evening.

Anne Frank's diary, written during the two years the teenager and her family hid from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam, made her a symbol of the suffering of Jews during World War II.

The house has been turned into a museum dedicated to the young girl, who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 aged 15.

The suggestion that had she lived today, the teenager would have been a "belieber" - a term used by his devoted fans to describe themselves - generated thousands of horrified responses on social networking websites.

"Just saw what Justin Bieber wrote in the Anne Frank Museum guestbook. Absolutely disgusted," read one tweet.

"Way to turn an inspiring moment into something about yourself," read another.

However, museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart defended the young star to the BBC, saying: "He's 19. It's a crazy life he's living, he didn't mean bad… and also it's nice that he made the effort, he didn't have to come."

Well it appears he really knows how to garner support, props to him and his PR crew for trying to recruit the long deceased but none the lesssomewhat incensitive wouldnt you say?

Reply 61

ladymarshmallow

Original post by Pigling

I feel a bit sorry for Justin Bieber. He just seems like a bit of a dumb kid to me - no wonder he can't handle his fame responsibly/ without being a prat. I'd imagine becoming famous and having that lifestyle from such a young age would be pretty overwhelming for anyone, and maybe warps you a little bit. I don't think it will turn out well for him.

Yeah...I don't think he really fully grasped the insensitivity of his comment. He just seems a bit clueless to me - not really someone you could have a deep conversation with.

Reply 62

Jack93o

I don't get the outrage about this tbh. Yes its a bit stupid and arrogant of him, but the way people have been reacting, you'd think he signed a swastika.

Reply 63

mr-breaker

Relevant:

"Very few smiled. Most hung their heads. Young adults, and especially teenagers, could often be seen sobbing into their hankies. Anne Frank, by keeping a diary, could be shown as a real person, a teenager with the same hopes and dreams as those visitors. And then she was taken from the family’s hiding place, thrown into a cattle truck, and transported east to a death camp. Because she was Jewish.

Those young people who I saw probably didn’t know the story of Anne Frank before they went in. So it’s fair to assume that many more who didn’t know the story never queued up and took the tour. They will now. By visiting the house and sparking all that publicity, Justin Bieber has already provoked millions of teenagers across the world into Googling “Anne Frank”.

And the teenagers who find out about Anne Frank will also find out about the depths to which some have sunk in the past. That, hopefully, will steel them against going there ever again. For that, instead of ridiculing Justin Bieber, everyone should thank him for making sure that another generation does not forget what happened to Anne Frank – and millions more like her".

Reply 64

Skip_Snip

Meh, he'd still get the D

Reply 65

Heteronym

Ridiculous reaction all around. He's a (very) public person and didn't really have anything different to write, as the majority of people in the same situation wouldn't have. He did try do make it a little about himself, because the kid is a media-freak and even tweets are sponsored nowadays. The person Justin Bieber is so attached to the famous teen singer that it's not hard to understand why he did that, to be bonest.

Having said that, I've never listened to any of his music nor do I actually know much about his life. He might be a prick, I don't know, but what a ridiculous thing to make a big deal about.

Justin Bieber on Anne Frank

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