Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Will.i.am. Defends Justin Bieber

The public discussion (or really, babble at this point) regarding Justin Bieber’s controversial entry in the guestbook of the Anne Frank museum doesn’t seem to be dying down. Now, Will.i.am has come out in defense of the blonde heartthrob, saying the whole thing was blown out of proportion.

In an interview with The Sun on Saturday, the judge of the UK version of “The Voice” defended Bieber, who will be featured on the rapper’s new single #thatpower.

“I remember when I was 19, it was pretty tough. The difference between me and him is that I got to grow up in private, he is growing up in front of everybody,” he said. “The dude was in freaking Amsterdam. He could get sex because it’s legal, he could get drugs because it’s legal, and now we are making a hoopla because he said, ‘I wonder if Anne Frank was a Belieber?’ “He went to a museum! If you go to Amsterdam you are going to see some crazy freaking s–t, you are going to see some titties, there is a lot of s–t to do in Amsterdam but he chose to go to Anne Frank’s house. The guy is all right.”

Others have rushed to the Biebs’ defense, including rapper 50 cent, who, when asked at the premiere of “Pain & Gain,” said “She probably would have been [a believer].”

Mark Wahlberg, also at the premiere as one of the film’s stars, agreed, saying: “I think it’s best to put down the phone and Twitter and all that stuff, and just be a little more low-key right now. Because they’re watching every move he makes, everything he says, and less is more. Go take a vacation.”

What do you think?

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.