These news item really does sound like something straight out of The Onion, but it is apparently true: A Filipino politician has demanded that Justin Bieber be erased from the country for posting a meme to his Instagram account. We swear we are not making this up.
As you might have guessed, the meme in question was Manny Pacquiao getting knocked out, something the Internet widely mocked and something Bieber shared every version of that he could find on Instagram. Pacquiao is understandably incredibly popular in his home country, to the point where he holds political office, so one of his fellow politicians had his back.
Yacap party-list Rep. Carol Jane Lopez is urging Congress to officially ban the Canadian singer from ever setting foot in the country after he posted allegedly insulting photos of Pacquiao on the Internet.
Lopez also urged the Filipino youth to stop listening to Bieber’s songs and to stop going to his concerts. Bieber last held a concert at the SM Mall of Asia on May 2011.
Personally, we would have called on him to be banned for spamming Instagram with other people’s memes and not giving credit, but we guess the priorities are slightly different in the Filipino government.
Pacquiao, for his part, has stated that he’ll pray for Bieber and has apparently found his enormous piles of money and the love and adoration of an entire country to be there for him in his time of need.
And really, Pacquiao’s vote is the only one that matters. Not because it’s ultimately his image and his feelings at stake, but because if he were really ticked off about this, he could pretty much turn Bieber into chunky salsa at his convenience. He hasn’t, so we’re assuming he’s not too angry about this one.