In March 2016, I wrote a story for KQED Pop titled "Forgiving Justin Bieber." It was about how little time it took for the pop star to redeem himself in the eyes of the public after a rash of terrible behavior, including but not limited to: monkey abandonment, drag-racing under the influence, defacing hotel room walls, making insensitive statements about Anne Frank, egging a neighbor's house, abusing photographers and urinating into things that he shouldn't.
During that period, Bieber was subjected to a mountain of bad press and public criticism, until he took steps to make things right. He released a (very good) single titled "Sorry"; he volunteered for a Comedy Central Roast; he paid damages to the egged neighbor; and he appeared repeatedly on Ellen until he looked like a normal person again. After TMZ exposed how much money his father was leeching from him, there was enough good will and sympathy for the general public to invite Biebs back into the fold, and his career recovered in no time.
In recent months, however, it would appear that Justin Bieber has forgotten entirely how lucky he was to get a second chance from the public the first time around. He was vocally grateful back then, but over time, his behavior has once again become irrational, inconsiderate and self-serving, albeit in a new, less haphazard sort of way. The most bizarre but obvious sign of this was the embarrassing tweet he recently addressed to Tom Cruise, publicly challenging the movie star to a fight.