![]() ![]() Never works out.'"Ĭlearly, the question of Bieber and race has been on his mind for a while, but what's so impressive about "Nobody Beats the Biebs," which was penned by Glover's brother Stephen, is that it frames a provocative premise in such an efficient, smooth, and almost old-fashioned sitcom package. Good-looking talented white kids? People hate those. "Who the fuck saw a baby playing the drums and was like, 'Oh, that will never work out. Back in 2011, when performing a stand-up set, the touring Community actor riffed on Bieber's documentary Never Say Never, questioning the validity of a title card in the trailer that says, "They said it would never happen." "Who the fuck is they?" asked Glover onstage. This isn't the first time Glover got philosophical about the Biebs. It's more interested in moments of ambiguity. (Apparently, Ray Donovan has also explored the " Black Justin Bieber" question.) For Glover's series, the casting decision poses a series of implied questions: What if Justin Bieber, a musician who achieved mainstream success with a string of important co-signs from popular black artists, were black? Would you view him differently? Would he have achieved the same level of success? Would he be given so many shots at redemption by the public? The episode resists the temptation to turn its Justin Bieber plot into an easily digestible, hashtag-ready political point. Unlike the somewhat controversial "color-blind" re-casting of Louis C.K.'s wife on Louie, the casting of Atlanta's Bieber feels pointed, wry, and purposeful. By the episode's end, the fictional Bieber is stuck in another embarrassing public situation - fighting Paper Boi in the middle of a charity basketball game - but, like the real Bieber, he sweet-talks his way out of trouble by singing a corny tropical-house ballad. Much like the real Bieber, Atlanta's alternate universe version can be. Like the Bieber that exists in the real world, Atlanta's version of Bieber can be polarizing: Paper Boi can't stand him but Earn thinks he's worth cozying up to and possibly collaborating with. It's just a fact: in the universe of Atlanta, Justin Bieber is black. The racial flip is never explicitly acknowledged in the dialogue of the episode, giving the many Bieber jokes a surreal, quietly political, and also just plain funny quality. Instead, Bieber is played by a young black actor (the very funny Austin Crute, who also records his own music). This isn't yet another self-deprecating celebrity cameo on a basic cable sitcom. ![]() A pop sensation like Bieber should have no place.īut great sitcoms are elastic, and tonight's Atlanta features an appearance from "Justin Bieber" that's sure to provoke some hilarious reactions. The show documents a local music scene from the margins. Over four episodes, Glover and his writers locked us in a shack with Migos, put us in a pizza delivery car with Bankroll PJ, and dropped us off at a quasi-mystical chicken joint, a far cry from an " Entourage for rappers" music-biz satire. When it comes to the drop-crotch-pants-loving, blond-dreadlocks-sporting scamp, what's left to say? You'd think it's all been done. So, I greeted "Nobody Beats the Biebs," the fifth episode of Donald Glover's FX series Atlanta, with a little skepticism. In 2016, it's hard to make an original joke about Justin Bieber. Last year, he even submitted to his own Comedy Central Roast. ![]() From the Lonely Island's affectionate skewering of his bad boy antics in the under-seen Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping to Kate McKinnon's dead-eyed impression of his Calvin Klein ads on SNL to South Park's brutal Bieber death-by-tentacle-monster back in 2010, the punch-line-ready singer has been mocked by comedians ever since he first crooned his way into America's heart as a young Canadian moppet. ![]()
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