It all started Wednesday, when it was reported that Justin Bieber’s camera and laptop, which reportedly contained – be still the Internet’s heart – a naked photo and an illicit video, had been stolen during a concert at the Tacoma Dome in Washington.
Soon after, a Twitter user named @gexwy claimed to have cracked Bieber’s password and began threatening to post the footage. “I got the vids of u too. nervous?” he/she tweeted, later adding, “u have dealt with a lot of rumours for a very long time. as a kid. with the world watching. u ready for more?”
But when it was finally released, the video was a highly choreographed, seamlessly edited new video of Bieber’s duet with Nicki Minaj, "Beauty and a Beat." The opening captions read, “In October of 2012 three hours of personal footage was stolen from musician Justin Bieber. The following footage was illegally uploaded by an anonymous blogger” – as if that's anything an anonymous blogger would ever write.
Millions, it seemed, had been punk’d.
But now Bieber’s publicist Melissa Victor is claiming that Bieber’s laptop was, in fact, swiped in Tacoma.
"Be very clear, the laptop was indeed stolen in Tacoma. That was NOT a hoax," Victor wrote in an email to the Associated Press.
She did not immediately reply to questions about the video release, or whether the @gexwy Twitter account was linked to the star's publicity.
Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum confirmed that a theft report was filed on Wednesday; but he says the investigation is pretty well wrapped up. The anonymous blogger @gexwy, has also fallen silent.
"A lot of people got played," Fulghum said. "It became a big media frenzy, so I guess that was the idea."
The publicity stunt – er, news of the stolen laptop – comes amid a few all-too-real bumps on the Bieb's latest tour, among them vomiting on stage and yelling, "How you doing, Edmonton?" to a crowd in Calgary on Friday.