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Justin Bieber fans 'convert to Islam' to win concert tickets on Norwegian TV

 

Daisy Wyatt
Monday 22 April 2013 10:44 BST
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Just how far would a Belieber go to win tickets to see their idol? This was the premise of a spoof TV show which challenged Justin Bieber’s Norwegian fans to convert to Islam.

Five teenage girls were seen to agree to convert to the religion in the sketch on comedy show Ann-Kat Hærland. Two apparently Muslim men asked the girls to remove their makeup, put on hijabs and read what was alleged to be an Islamic creed in Arabic, before repeating a statement that said: “Justin Bieber is impure and probably gay.”

TV show host Anne-Kat Hærland introduced the episode by saying: “We wanted to find out how far Norwegian Beliebers are willing to go for tickets to one of the concerts.”

The two minute ‘conversion’ the five girls undertook in the sketch has been criticised by Bishop Halvor Nordhaug from the Norwegian Lutheran Church, who said the episode showed a lack of understanding of how much faith means to people.

“This is an example of an idea where irony and lack of respect turns into something tragic. I believe [the contest] is a foolish statement and it shows a lack of respect for what faith means,” he told the Norwegian news site Dagen.

The Canadian pop star, who had no involvement with the sketch, is rumoured to be back in a relationship with his former girlfriend Selena Gomez after tweeting an image of them together this weekend. Although the picture was soon removed from the social networking site.

Bieber has also come under fire from his grandfather George Bieber this weekend, who criticised the pop star for not helping him and his wife financially after he was left unable to work after suffering from a back condition.

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