Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs on stage during a concert in Zurich, Switzerland Friday, March 22, 2013.The Canadian Press
Just when we think Justin Bieber is starting to behave, along comes a new incident to make the world dislike him all over again.
Us magazine reports that the 19-year-old Canadian pop export allegedly called a young woman a "beached whale" while in Australia earlier this week.
As originally reported on the Aussie news site News.com.au, the incident took place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Perth last Sunday while Bieber and members of his ever-present posse were chilling at the hotel pool.
Also poolside that day were four young Australian women, all wearing bikinis. According to image consultant Helen Robinett, who was staying at the hotel for business purposes: "One girl who was gorgeous looking, with long dark hair and would have been about a size 14," she said.
And that's when the alleged trouble began.
In Robinett's account of events: "Justin looked over at her and said, 'What are you, Hawaiian or something?' She said, 'No, I'm not.' Then he said, 'You look like a beached whale …' The girl said, 'Are you serious?' And he said, 'You should go on The Biggest Loser.' "
For those unfamiliar with the show, The Biggest Loser is a long-running NBC reality program in which obese people compete to see who can lose the most weight.
Robinett's description of the events went on: "The whole pool deck heard him call this beautiful young girl a beached whale. Everyone heard. And there was silence. It was almost like his security were used to it."
As Robinett told News.com.au, she was so aghast at Bieber's behaviour that she made a formal complaint to the hotel.
However unofficial, Bieber's impromptu insult was substantiated in an interview with another hotel guest, who chose not to reveal their name to the media. According to the website, the second witness saw Bieber making an unkind gesture shortly before the incident.
In his or her words: "[He imitated] a large belly as he spoke to the long-haired girl and I heard him say something about The Biggest Loser and he was pointing at her," the unnamed guest told News.com.au.
"I saw the girl and her friends leave, downcast. Bieber seemed to think he was funny, he was smiling and looking to his burly minders [bodyguards] for their approval."
No other witnesses have surfaced, but it's not difficult to believe anything about Justin Bieber following incidents in which he peed in a restaurant mop bucket and made his bodyguards carry him up the Great Wall of China.
Even if the "beached-whale" incident isn't true, in one fell swoop the report likely negates any recent responsible Bieber behaviour, including his efforts this week to raise funds for the victims of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
So far, nobody has talked to the young woman allegedly involved, and Bieber himself hasn't addressed the controversy for his 47 million followers on Twitter.