Justin Bieber pulled the ultimate prank when he fabricated a story about his laptop being stolen from him at a show all in an elaborate stunt to hype up his found-footage music video for "Beauty and a Beat," which debuted Friday (October 12).
While fans were initially angry at the "thief," who tweeted about the robbery under the handle @gexwy and promised to unleash Bieber's private home movies to the media, they cooled down once the Nicki Minaj-featuring "Beauty" video premiered — mostly because they learned that their idol was behind the whole thing.
"Hi I'm a belieber and I just got punk'd by @justinbieber," @Sexrauhl_Biebs tweeted about the scheme.
@Just_Ulrika added: "I love how after all this time, @justinbieber can still suprise us and make us fangirl like never before! lol its the best :) #unBELIEVEable."
In fact, Bieber's prank grew so massive as the video was set to premiere that Nick Cannon even congratulated the singer on being able to pull it off, tweeting, "Well played @JustinBieber..."
Co-directed by Bieber and his "Never Say Never" director Jon Chu, the clip follows the wet-and-wild singer at an epic pool party attended by young, pretty partygoers, as well as the song's featured MC, Minaj. "The Beauty And A Beat music video was original, creative, artistic, fun and just amazing," @JustinBiebsGang wrote. "I loved every single second of it @justinbieber."
"I gotta admit, this new Beauty and A Beat- @justinbieber music video is brilliant," @brianlogandales said of the video's feel-good vibe. "That looked way too fun."
@BrigitteBieber_added, "I think everyone is left in complete shock after viewing the #BEAUTYandaBeat video because it was that amazing!"
The video and its rollout might have been just original enough to win over those folks who were on the fence about the singer. @juliaQuestie noted, "I really have started to like Justin Bieber. He's so different now. #DontJudgeMe."