Six months ago, Justin Bieber and David Letterman were getting along so famously, Bieber tweeted at Dave while he was appearing on the Late Show. "I just said, like, 'I'm just hanging out with my boy Dave,' " Bieber told Letterman, who cackled with glee and shouted, "Pretty good!" and called the teen pop star "a pretty smart kid." Bieber returned in February to promote his 3-D movie Never Say Never by reading the Top 10 Reasons It's Fun To Be Justin Bieber ("At the barber shop, I can say, 'Give me the Me' ") and got the chance to sit in with the CBS Orchestra on drums.
But things were far less convivial last night when Bieber returned to Letterman to read the Top 10 Little-Known Facts About Justin Bieber. Maybe Letterman didn't feel comfortable helping Bieber sell perfume in a bottle shaped like lady-parts to tweens -- that was the purpose of Bieber's visit, he's out and about in New York today trying to convince girls to buy his new fragrance, Someday. (Remember its hilarious commercial? See it here). But Letterman was in straight-up surly mode, doing his best to make Bieber uncomfortable as he delivered lines like "As hard as I've tried, I don't know how to not be adorable."
"Quit throwing the paper on the lawn," Letterman said when Bieber emerged from backstage. "You have no idea who I am." We've seen Dave play around with guests before -- hello, Lady Gaga! -- but he seemed to aim his barbs over the 17-year-old star's head on purpose this time (Gawker called it "cringeworthy"). The vibe was so frosty, we're wont to believe Number Four: "I begged my publicist to get me out of this."