It took three years, but it seems like Justin Bieber might finally be embarrassed about his 2014 mughost.
When he was 19 years old, the pop star got arrested in Miami for the double whammy of drag racing while under the influence. His mugshots went viral at the time because of his glassy-eyed smile. Did he realize where he was? Was he smiling through some tears, maybe? It was hard to say. But the details of the arrest got lost in a jumble of headlines about Bieber’s other indiscretions at the time. The result is an image that lives on without any real story to give it gravity. Justin Bieber has that meme-y mugshot because… he was “bad” a couple years ago?
Here's Justin Bieber's mugshot: http://t.co/b1ggqWNv9I pic.twitter.com/vwDbyARCk8
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) January 23, 2014
It looks like Bieber is starting to take the arrest a little more seriously, though. The pop star shared two court photos from that same case in an Instagram post Monday, and he’s definitely not smiling in them.
The caption is simply, “Mugshot #jailisnotacoolplacetobe, #notfun #neveragain.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVhmpfrj5fi/
He’s still doing teen idol-brow in the new pics, but at least he looks more somber—like someone who thinks the law applies to them might.
Between this and “Don’t throw things at me, please,” Summer 2017 could mark the era of Bieber taking this whole role model thing more seriously.