What if Justin Bieber played the Republican National Convention? What if Justin Bieber rewrote the Constitution and ran for president? These, like all of life’s greatest mysteries, are the questions that must keep anyone and everyone in the Biebs’s camp up at night. TMZ reports that Bieber came this close to performing at a RNC-associated event in Cleveland last week funded by donors because, hey, he’s Canadian, so what does he know aboot American politics anyway? He and his talent agency apparently got sweet-talked by a promoter offering $5 million up front (a near record-breaking amount for a single performance, TMZ says) for him to play a 45-minute apolitical gig at a venue near the same arena where the RNC was held. And Bieber would’ve run with the check were it not for a few guardian angels: LeBron James and his manager Scooter Braun.
According to TMZ, the Cleveland basketball star denied any claims from the promoter that he would be attending the RNC (as the promoter had allegedly promised Bieber) and “urged†Bieber not to perform. Bieber’s longtime manager and savior, Scooter Braun, initially supported the show on the condition that Bieber could display Black Lives Matter banners. But after learning that the donors wanted “All Lives Matter†banners instead and no badmouthing Donald Trump or the Republican party, Braun reportedly gave Bieber an ultimatum: Decline the offer or he would quit. (Braun had previously thrown a star-studded fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his house.) The apparent final straw was Bieber’s all-black band refusing to perform. Oh, Canada.