Justin Bieber's sideways burrito-eating scandal was a hoax

Does Justin Bieber have a weird way of eating burritos? As it turns out, we have no way of knowing for sure.

A viral photo that appeared to show the Canadian pop star attacking a burrito middle-first, instead of using the more common end-to-end approach, has been revealed to be a hoax.

The photo was actually created by Yes Theory, a group of viral video producers based in California.

In a video posted to YouTube on Sunday, titled “We Fooled the Internet w/ Fake Justin Bieber Burrito Photo,” the group revealed that the photo was “completely staged” in an effort to attract attention.

“We wanted to prove a point: That staging a story, as goofy as it was, can be done much more easily than most people can imagine,” one of the Yes Theory members said.

The video details what was happening behind the scenes as Yes Theory discovered Brad Sousa, a Bieber lookalike from Cambridge, Ont. They flew him to Los Angeles and brainstormed a way to use his uncanny face to create a viral story.

The group came up with two ideas. In addition to the burrito photo, they shot a video where he helped an elderly woman cross a road. (The woman had been hired from a “Rent a Grandma” website.)

After taking the photo of the burrito incident, the group sent it to media outlets and posted it on other websites themselves. Frustrated that they weren’t receiving as much attention as they were hoping for, they turned to social media-savvy friend Conor Browne.

A few hours – and a few burritos shared by Browne and his Yes Theory friends – later, Browne’s Reddit post containing the photo became one of the most-read on the site.

“Not a single person is questioning whether that’s actually Justin Bieber,” one Yes Theory member said.

By the next morning, a fashion website had posted an article titled “Justin Bieber Goes Against Laws of God and Man.” Soon enough, major media outlets were contacting Browne and asking him about how he supposedly came across Bieber’s bizarre burrito-consumption method. (“Some of the details add up,” an ensuing story noted.)

One of those interviews was recorded and included in the video. Asked if the photo was some sort of setup, Browne suggested it was not, as his friends tried to stifle their laughter.

“That would be crazy. I don’t know why people would even think that,” he said.

“The whole thing would have to be orchestrated or something.”

Bieber’s team caught wind of the photo early on, and decided not to correct the record.

After the hoax was revealed, the pop star’s manager Scooter Braun posted a video to Instagram of a call between himself and Yes Theory during the photo’s rise to virality.

Braun said he found the stunt “really funny” and would go along with it – although he made sure Yes Theory understood how he knew right away that the photo could not be real.

“I know what he looks like,” he said.

“You can’t prank a prankster, bro.”

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