25 February 2014
Newsdesk
Justin Bieber is reportedly welcome in Atlanta, Georgia after all.
News spread across both sides of the Atlantic that residents in one of the city’s neighbourhoods were protesting about the Believe singer taking up residence in their area.
But it has now been revealed it was all a hoax carried out by local radio station Rock 100.5's The Regular Guys show.
“We just sent tweets out, and that's it—just social media," host Steve Rickman explained to E! News. "We did not send press releases or anything like that to our local affiliates. We're really not trying to, you know, burn everybody—we're just doing something fun."
This didn’t seem to be the case earlier however, when news outlets including CNN and BBC News reported on a group of residents in the wealthy Buckhead neighbourhood holding up placards with anti-Justin phrases.
“‘She doesn't want the 'B'," "No Justins, no peace," "Keep Bieber Out," "No Bieber in Buckhead" were all used on the banners, but it turns out the people holding them were interns at the radio station dressed up to look “rich”.
Steve admitted he was “floored” by the response which was unexpected to say the least.
“We just did it as a fun thing," he said. "I mean it spun completely [out of control]…We're blown away. It's a home run when you're a morning radio show."
Justin himself even waded into the reports, taking to Twitter to defend himself earlier in the day.
“I guess I'm an easy target for some. I'm still human. I will continue to meet hate with love. It's all about the music. Much love,” he wrote.
