Shared Audio

And then something dangerous happened: when the world decides someone is a joke… it stops seeing them as a person. In 2015, the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber became a symbol of that era. It was framed as comedy. But it also felt like public punishment—broadcast as a spectacle. The public said they were reacting to his behavior. But the media cycle was reacting to something else: profit. Because outrage sells. And a fallen idol is one of the most profitable storylines of all.