Justin Bieber has made headlines once again for his fans, with travel-hungry Beliebers managing to shut down an Icelandic canyon.
Like it or not, it’s no secret that Justin Bieber is one of the most popular and iconic pop singers of the last decade. Ever since rising to fame with ‘Baby’ all those years ago, the Canadian musician has earned himself a devoted following from his legions of ‘Beliebers’.
As years have gone by though, we’ve seen just how wild these fans can be. While we’ve seen one man spend over $100,000 to look like the pop star, we’ve also seen fans auction off their virginity for tickets to Bieber’s concert.
However, Bieber’s fans are now under fire from Iceland, having managed to shutdown an environmental tourist attraction.
Back in 2015, Justin Bieber released ‘I’ll Show You’, a three-minute pop song produced by Skrillex. Backing the tune with a music video, Bieber shot the clip in Iceland, and features the artist “running through lush, green mountains, sitting on the edge of a cliff, rolling down hills and skateboarding on top of a derelict airplane,” according to Billboard.
However, as The Guardian notes, Beliebers with wanderlust have become a hassle for Iceland, flocking to the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, and causing it to be shut down to the public.
While Iceland’s ecosystem is rather fragile to begin with, a 20% annual rise in visitors has led to widespread soil erosion in its volcanic areas, resulting in action needing to be taken.
Environment minister Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson noted it was “a bit too simplistic to blame the entire situation on Justin Bieber” but noted that famous people should reconsider the effects on the areas they could potentially make famous.
“Rash behaviour by one famous person can dramatically impact an entire area if the mass follows,” Guðbrandsson said.
“In Justin Bieber’s defence, the canyon did not – at the time he visited – have rope fences and designated paths to show what was allowed and what was not.”
“This canyon was somewhat unknown,” Daníel Freyr Jónsson of the Environment Agency of Iceland explained to RUV. “But I think Icelanders have known about it a lot longer.”
“The great increase in foot traffic began after Bieber came. There has been an increase of 50% to 80% between 2016, 2017 and 2018.”
According to The Guardian, some fans have even tried bribing the ranger into opening the gate to the area, offering foods and international flights in hopes of walking the same delicate grounds as their idol.
While the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon was set to be closed for a fortnight in order to foster the healing of the local vegetation, the closure has now been extended until June 1st.
Check out ‘I’ll Show You’ by Justin Bieber:
