Paparazzo Killed Trying To Photograph Justin Bieber: Read Bieber’s Statement

Sam Lansky | January 2, 2013 5:44 am

Because the world we live in is an insane and horrible place, a paparazzo trailing a car that he thought was driven by Justin Bieber — turns out it actually wasn’t — was struck by an oncoming vehicle and killed on a Los Angeles freeway after trying to snap a picture inside the white Ferrari — which was, again, driven by somebody who wasn’t Justin Bieber. Yes, pretty much everything about this story is sad and depressing and grim. There’s just no way around it. 

And even though the Biebs had nothing to do with the incident (he wasn’t even in the car!), other than implicitly contributing to a society where a picture of a celebrity driving is prized so dearly that people will literally walk through traffic across the freeway to get it, Team Bieber still released a statement:

“While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim… Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders, and the photographers themselves.”

(Indeed, that does sound like Biebs speaking in his own voice. His publicist must have cut out all the references to “swag.”)

But seriously, we wouldn’t mind seeing Bieber taking up this issue and championing it in earnest, especially since it’s clearly one that’s near and dear to his heart. Set up a foundation or something, maybe?

[via CNN]