Justin Bieber appeared to be in a "joking" mood, but what he said during a concert in London last week still struck a chord.
During the final show on the European leg of his Purpose Tour, Bieber told screaming fans at the O2 Arena on Tuesday night that he's "90 percent sure" that the Instagram pic-posting app is "for the devil" and that it is "hell," Billboard reported.
Before saying that, the born-again Christian pop artist gave his "Beliebers" some hope that he might get back to posting selfies soon on Instagram. "Who thinks I should get my Instagram back?" The fans burst into screams, anticipating a "yes."
But then came the big letdown. "Nah, I don't want to get my Instagram back... I'm sure... I think hell is Instagram. I'm 90 percent sure. We get sent to hell, we get like locked in the Instagram server," Bieber told the crowd.
The 22-year-old Canadian singer teased the crowd even more, saying he wasn't sure what he was going to do when he went home, and that he might just take some "Instas" but not upload them.
In August this year, Bieber deleted his Instagram account, saying he's never going to use that social media site again, which had 77 million followers.
He likewise announced then that he no longer wanted to take pictures with fans anymore, explaining, "It has gotten to the point that people won't even say hi to me or recognize me as a human. I feel like a zoo animal, and I wanna be able to keep my sanity."
In an earlier Instagram post, the "Sorry" singer said, "The pressure of meeting people's expectations of what I'm supposed to be is so much for me to handle and a lot on my shoulders," according to Vanity Fair.
Before that, he told the Mirror in February this year that fans should stop worshipping him since God is the One who truly deserves praise.
"I would really suggest to people, 'Don't put your faith in me,'" he said. "Because I'm gonna disappoint you every time. Yeah. It's scary. But I want them to know that I'm not going to be able to solve their problems... I'm not that higher power. I'll never be. I'm not perfect. I've made so many mistakes. I just want to get to a place where... I just want people to know humans aren't meant to be worshiped. We're just not. So when a human is being worshiped, this is dangerous. 'Cause it does nothing but give you pride."
In an earlier interview with GQ Magazine, Bieber credited his newfound faith with saving him from being a "terrible" person.
"I feel like that's why I have a relationship with Him, because I need it. I suck by myself," he said. "If I was doing this on my own, I would constantly be doing things that are, I mean, I still am doing things that are stupid, but... It just gives me some sort of hope and something to grasp onto, and a feeling of security, and a feeling of being wanted, and a feeling of being desired, and I feel like we can only get so much of that from a human."
