Teenage pop sensation Justin Bieber is planning to fight the arrest of his record label vice-president after a riot broke out at a planned appearance in Long Island, New York on Friday (20Nov09).
Def Jam boss James Rappo was led away from the Roosevelt Field shopping mall after Bieber failed to respond to requests to let fans know his appearance had been scrapped via social networking website Twitter.com in time.
But Bieber insists his label boss shouldn't be held accountable for the fact that mall security bosses couldn't contain the 10,000 fans who showed up.
The singer says, "The mall, I guess, should have had more security. They weren't expecting 10,000 people to show up, Neither was I."
But Bieber is making light of the incident, stating, "I'm gonna make T-shirts that say 'Free Rappo'."
The Canadian pop star wasn't laughing when police pulled his vehicle over on the way to the mall signing - and threatened to deport him if he didn't turn back.
Speaking to Los Angeles DJ Ryan Seacrest on Monday morning (23Nov09), the singer, who is now in Britain supporting Taylor Swift on tour, explains, "I wanna see my fans. I don't wanna look like a jerk, like a no-show... I wanna say hi to my fans, but when I got there the police threatened to put me in cuffs and take me and my mum to the penitentiary.
"They were threatening to put me in jail. They were like, 'If you don't pull off right now, we're gonna arrest you and your mother.'
"We're not trying to get deported - me and my mum are Canadian. We were just like, 'Whatever.' So we pulled off, went away and it turns out the cops were holding another person... the vice-president of the label. They had him and were like, 'If Justin doesn't Twitter for everyone to go home, then we're gonna send you to jail.'
"My phone was dead; I had no clue what was going on. They sent him to jail because I didn't Twitter on time."
One fan was reportedly injured when a riot broke out after mall bosses announced the appearance had been cancelled.
Bieber adds, "I'm very sorry for my fans. I'm really pleased everyone showed up."
He's now trying to reschedule an event in Long Island, so he can appease his upset devotees.