Musician Marilyn Manson, famous for his band's "suicide rock genre," publicly took on fellow musician and Justin Bieber after the Bieb's current "bigger than satan" tour apparel includes Manson's face. Manson shot back with a photo of himself in a Bieber shirt on Instagram and the caption "Bigger than Bieber."
The shock rocker and self-proclaimed satanist didn't show the entire image on the shirt, but Bieber's name clearly is in the camera's focus.
Bieber, 22, recently has shared more publicly about how he believed his relationship with God was keeping him from being a bad person. The new tour clothes are an extension of this concept.
Jerry Lorenzo designed Bieber's Manson shirt that he wears before countless fans on his "Purpose" tour. Lorenzo is the founder of the clothing line called Fear Of God, which Bieber tapped for some of his tour attire.
"Man, my tour is coming up. I really want you to do it," Lorenzo recalled Bieber telling him in a WWD report, and reported by Christian Post.
Bieber, who identifies himself as a faithful adherent of Christianity, said he communicates with God via prayer, and that "he's the reason I'm here."
He reflected his faith in a music video with Brandon Burke, titled "#iPledge," in which he "talks candidly about his appreciation for the tenet of forgiveness in the Christian faith."
"I feel like that's why I have a relationship with Him, because I need it. I suck by myself," he said in a GQ magazine interview last month. "Like, when I'm by myself and I feel like I have nothing to lean on? Terrible. Terrible person."
Although Bieber admits to doing "stupid" things, the "Sorry" singer said his actions would be worse without God.
"If I was doing this on my own, I would constantly be doing things that are, I mean, I still am doing things that are stupid, but ... It just gives me some sort of hope and something to grasp onto," Bieber said. "...a feeling of security, and a feeling of being wanted, and a feeling of being desired, and I feel like we can only get so much of that from a human."
Bieber told Complex magazine last year he wanted to live like Jesus. "Not be Jesus ... I don't want that to come across weird. He created a pretty awesome template of how to love people and how to be gracious and kind," said the Canadian native.
"If you believe it, he died for our sins. Sometimes when I don't feel like doing something, but I know it's right, I remember, I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't feel like going to the cross and dying so that we don't have to feel what we should have to feel."
Since the online shirt exchange between Bieber and Manson, they saw each other in Los Angeles after Bieber's Staples Center performance and snapped a photo together.
