Every now and then, we get one of those helpful reminders of how freaking lucky we all are to live in the United States of America, where even with the federal government in its current bloated, way-too-intrusive state, we don’t have to deal with the full-on craziness and oppression of places like the People’s Republic of China. Case in point: the Chinese government’s rationale for banning Justin Bieber.
The annoying but mostly harmless Bieber has been officially banned from performing in the communist country, but why hasn’t been exactly clear, until now. The Telegraph reports that a Chinese Bieber fan contacted the Orwellian-sounding Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture to ask them why she and all her fellow superfans were being denied the chance to see him perform, even though he was hitting Hong Kong, Japan and other nearby locales.
Here’s the creepy response the disappointed fan received from her authoritarian government:
“Justin Bieber is a gifted singer, but he is also a controversial young foreign singer,” the Bureau of Culture said in a statement. “In order to maintain order in the Chinese market and purify the Chinese performance environment, it is not suitable to bring in badly behaved entertainers. We hope that as Justin Bieber matures, he can continue to improve his own words and actions, and truly become a singer beloved by the public.”
The Telegraph provides a summary of some of Bieber’s “bad behavior” when he was last in China years ago:
Along with being carried up the Great Wall of China by his bodyguards (an image of which resulted in a bombardment of international mockery), Bieber was also filmed skateboarding through the streets of Beijing while being pursued by his entourage.
Back in the U.S., Bieber had that crazy pee in a bucket incident and a drunk driving arrest.
Other officially banned performers include Lady Gaga and England’s Oasis, so Bieber’s at least got company in exile.