Many Justin Bieber fans are learning the hard way this week that just because you read it on Twitter, doesn’t mean it’s true. For a teenage fan of the “Baby” singer, it’s hard to know what would be worse – reading reports (later proven to be false) that your idol has cancer, or else discovering that you just shaved your head for nothing.
Justin Bieber
Believed to be started by pranksters on the image-based bulletin board 4chan on Monday, photoshopped screenshots made it appear as if a tweet from a verified Entertainment Tonight account confirmed the news that Justin had been diagnosed with cancer and that his fans were shaving their heads in solidarity with the pop star, spreading the news via the hashtag #baldforbieber
Fuelled by a YouTube video showing the screenshot, a similarly mocked-up tweet of gratitude from Justin’s twitter account, false news articles, what appeared to be excerpts from leaked emails filled with medical details and photos that supposedly showed fans that had already lost their locks for the cause, the prank soon went viral, leading to a multitude of confused and distressed “beliebers”.
Hailed by some in the Twitterverse as the “best prank ever”, others were less impressed, finding the whole idea of falsely reporting that anyone has cancer to be in bad taste. Even today, five days after the original posting, tweets offering their condolences to Justin and vowing to shave their heads are still appearing, although now it’s impossible to tell who is still in the dark and who is just taking the opportunity to keep the prank going.
No verified cases of bald Bieber fans have emerged yet, however one would expect that they would be keeping a very low profile for a while.
