‘Grumpy’ Bieber draws tiny Hong Kong welcome

HONG KONG – Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber usually draws legions of screaming girls at his sold-out concerts, but the mop-haired teen idol got a hugely disappointing greeting when he arrived in Hong Kong.

Just seven fans showed up at the city’s airport to greet Bieber, the Sunday Morning Post reported, calling it an “embarrassingly low-key reception”.

In contrast to the tiny turn-out, footage of his arrival posted on YouTube – where the star made his name – had been viewed nearly 135,000 times by Sunday, four days after he jetted in to the muted reception.

The paper said there were “three times” more bodyguards than female fans at the airport with the 17-year-old pop sensation “looking grumpy and walking straight past the small group of fans as they yelled out his name”.

But some fans defended the heartthrob, saying his gloomy demeanour was due to him falling ill before arriving in the southern Chinese city.

“He didn’t acknowledge us but that was probably because he saw more of the photographers,” 15-year-old Ruth Boon told the Post, saying the light fan turnout was likely a result of it being a school day.

Bieber’s concert on Friday in Hong Kong – one of the last shows in his “My World” tour — still saw a 13,500-seat stadium almost packed to capacity, the Post said.

The pop sensation soared to stardom after videos of his performances were posted on YouTube, with his album “My World 2.0” hitting the top of the US charts.