Unlike Katy Perry, Demi Lovato and Lenny Kravitz, Justin Bieber did not perform at the Democratic National Convention this week.
But that doesn’t mean the singer didn’t make his political leanings very well known.
He just did so in a more subtle manner.
And a more impressive manner, some might argue.
According to TMZ, Bieber was offered $ 5 MILLION to perform at a Republican-sponsored event during last week’s Republican National Convention.
The performance would not have taken place at Quicken Loans Arena, where the gathering was held, but at a venue nearby.
Insiders tell TMZ that the offer was made to CAA, Bieber’s talent agency, and that a promoter got in touch with Bieber’s people to ask if Justin would sing in Cleveland for about 45 minutes.
(For those doing the math, that comes out to over $ 100,000 per minute.)
The promoter tried to assure Bieber that the concert would not be political in any way; that he would not be asked to endorse Donald Trump or discuss policy or anything of that nature.
But the event would have been bankrolled by GOP donors.
Moreover, Bieber would be paid up front and the donors would cover all production costs.
It would have been the single biggest payday of all-time for Justin Bieber.
And he turned it down.
Sources tell TMZ that Bieber did ponder the offer for a bit.
He’s Canadian, after all, and could have argued that he doesn’t have much of a stake in an American election.
But Bieber’s manager and close friend, Scooter Braun, is a huge Hillary Clinton supporter. He even held a fundraiser for her at his Los Angeles mansion.
Braun and others at CAA believed that, regardless of the impressions they were given, the event would have been “100 percent political.”
Scooter reportedly tried to negotiate with the promoter who made the offer, asking, for instance, if Bieber could hang a “Black Lives Matter” banner inside the venue while he performed.
But the answer was no. And it was also made clear that Bieber could not insult Trump in any way at the show.
Still… Bieber was the person who made the final decision.
He actually spoke with LeBron James in order to do so because Conservative insider told Justin that the famous basketball player would also be appearing in Cleveland last week; also in a non-endorsement capacity.
But LeBron told Bieber this was incorrect information.
He was staying far away from his adopted hometown during the Republican National Convention.
In the end, with Bieber’s all-African-American band also being turned off by the possibility, Bieber turned down the invitation.
Pretty cool, huh?
Pretty interesting to go inside the machinations of a political campaign and how it tries to recruit celebrities to its cause…
… and even cooler of Bieber to say no to such a massive payday.
