Clips of Justin Bieber being s.e.xualized as a teen are resurfacing on TikTok — and people are saying it’s making them see him in a more sympathetic light.
The clips, which have received millions of cumulative views in the past few days, show Bieber making appearances at various award shows or press interviews during his younger years, being asked questions of a s.e.xual nature, and being touched by other celebrities in a way that viewers said was inappropriate.
One of the clips shows actor Jenny McCarthy kissing a then 18-year-old Bieber on the neck, and groping his backside, after announcing him as the winner in the Rock/Pop Album of the Year category at the American Music Awards in 2012.
“Wow, I feel v.i.o.l.a.t.ed right now,” Bieber can be heard saying in the clip.
McCarthy, then 40, told Entertainment Tonight at the time that the incident was “a little cougar scary,” adding, “I took the opportunity and the window, considering I’ll never get to do it again, and kind of molested him.”
Representatives for McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
At a later point during the same TikTok, a snippet from archived audio of an interview between Bieber and an unnamed reporter was featured. According to a reuploaded version of the audio taken from Scott Fox and the Z103.5 radio show, the interview took place at the Grammy Awards in 2010.
“Why do you want to know the s.e.x talk from a 15-year-old boy? That’s pretty weird,” Bieber responded.
TikTokers commenting on the clips said they thought that public reaction to such incidents would have been radically different at the time if the celebrity involved were a young woman, pointing to the broader idea that male objectification in Hollywood isn’t talked about as much as female objectification, as it seems that female child stars have been more vocal about being s.e.xualized from a young age in the past.“POV you’re a millennial who grew up with Justin Bieber in the same generation and realize he lost his innocence to this evil shithole in exchange for ‘fame’ while being exploited left to right and no one protected him,” read one caption under a viral duet from March 5, that shows a user reacting to the clips of Bieber, which received 3.3 million views.
Many commenters said the clips have influenced their opinions on Bieber, causing them to feel more sympathetic towards him because of his past.
