Pop superstar Justin Bieber usually has a team of adults around him to remind him to stop talking in case he says the wrong thing (which is often, I hear).
But his handlers weren’t with him when Rolling Stone magazine contributing editor Vanessa Grigoriadis rode around Atlanta in Bieber’s Range Rover recently. Grigoriadis was in town to interview Bieber for a cover story, and the impish 16-year-old said exactly what was on his mind, whether it was politically correct or not.
On becoming an American citizen, the Canadian native who makes Atlanta his second home, said: “You guys are evil. Canada’s the best country in the world.”
Bieber also compared America’s healthcare system to the free healthcare in Canada:
“We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. My [American] bodyguard’s baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby’s premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home.”
But it’s what Bieber said about abortion that has him in hot water with pro-abortion groups, particularly when he implied that rape “happens for a reason.”
“I really don’t believe in abortion,” the teen idol said. “It’s like killing a baby?” When asked if he was still adamantly pro-life in cases of rape, his stance didn’t really change. “Um. Well, I think that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I don’t know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”
This seemingly innocent opinion led to many headlines and jeers at Bieber’s expense, ridiculing him for implying something as traumatic as rape “happens for a reason.” But Grigoriadis, the interviewer, has a different opinion of what Bieber was trying to convey. “I think he meant that God has a plan,” she told PopEater. “Even for the most die-hard Christian, it’s hard to justify rape as part of God’s plan, and harder to justify rape that leads to pregnancy and abortion. I think he was wrestling with that in his answer, which I found to be solid and logical. I think it is being widely misunderstood. He did not say that rape was part of God’s plan.”
