Justin Bieber in Australia graffiti row

SYDNEY, Australia – Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber was told on Thursday to clean up his mess after the pop star was accused of spraying graffiti on an Australian hotel wall.

Furious Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate said the Canadian had been disrespectful and “really, really silly”, and sent a graffiti removal kit to the exclusive QT Hotel at Surfers Paradise so he could repair the damage.

“If a normal person did that they’d be serving 80 to 100 hours of community service,” Tate told the Nine Network.

“Just come and clean it up and we’ll be happy with you.”

In a separate interview in the Brisbane Courier-Mail, Tate said: “We’ve all been young once. But by the sounds of it, he’s gone and done something really, really silly.

“But he’s got an opportunity to make good… I urge him to treat this city the way Gold Coast fans treat him.”

Bieber’s handiwork includes a Pacman ghost and other fluorescent cartoon characters, reportedly painted in the early hours of Wednesday after the star’s sell-out Brisbane show.

Pictures of the graffiti were posted online, including on Instagram, with reports saying Bieber and his entourage left the cans of spray paint behind for staff to clean up.

Comments on the Instagram page were largely negative, with one saying: “Celebrities should not be above the law. He needs to grow up.”

But the hotel defended Bieber on its Facebook page Thursday, calling him “a lovely young guy” and indicated he asked permission to deface the wall.

“He’s Justin Bieber. I can’t imagine why people think that being a superstar means you stop asking permission.”

It is the second recent ruckus involving the singer and graffiti, with police in Rio de Janeiro investigating him earlier this month for alleged unauthorized wall tagging.

In that incident, he scrawled “Respect privacy” and “I am off” and made several drawings on a hotel wall. Police launched a probe into whether he had permission from City Hall to put graffiti on the building.

Bieber was believed to have left the hotel for Sydney, where he performs Friday and Saturday, but Tate said he should return.

“I know he’s got beautiful eyes. I’ve got some goggles for him, and some gloves because I know he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty,” he said.

“Do your business in Sydney and come on back and I’ll give you a chance to clean it up.”

Brisbane was the first of eight shows Bieber is staging across Australian cities. – Rappler.com