Earlier this week, the Internet was flooded with the news that Justin Bieber’s laptop and camera had been stolen. “Secret” videos were being leaked, like Justin pranking his crew, Justin in a pool, and older footage from a few years ago of him on stage. Oh yeah, and a nude photo scandal (creepy).

But, um, apparently that was all part of the Bieb’s master plan – it looks like Justin just pranked the whole world in order to premiere his new music video for “Beauty and the Beat” featuring Nicki Minaj. Say what?! We’re confused too.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what happened: after everyone heard the reports that Justin’s laptop and camera were stolen, an anonymous Twitter account, @gexwy, was created. The account started leaking footage that was supposedly taken off the laptop and tweeting all kinds of threats to Justin about something seriously secret (thought to be a sex tape) being leaked at noon today, October 12.

Things started looking fishy when the Bieb’s tweeted “noon”. And then Nicki Minaj tweeted, “uh oh…the barbz have a BIG surprise cmng tmrw” Then we were all like, “Um, we’re onto you, Justin Bieber.”

At noon, after I successfully reloaded Justin’s Twitter a minimum of 30 times (what? It’s part of my job, guys), he tweeted this little message:

…and then he tweeted out the link to his new music video “Beauty and the Beat”. So, yes, the whole stolen laptop and supposed leaked footage was all a prank in order to get us to watch his video.

I don’t get it. Justin Bieber, I don’t know if you realized this, but you’re one of the most popular musicians out there right now and you have been for a really long time. You have seriously dedicated fans who would do anything for you. You have over 28 million Twitter followers! What are you doing?! You don’t need to prank us to get us to watch your video. I promise.

Check out the much-hyped video, which takes place in what looks like pretty much the coolest party ever. Oh, and bonus: you’ll get to see Justin awkwardly grind with Nicki Minaj. It’s worth it:

What do you think of Justin’s little prank – totally lame or fun? What do you think of the video? Are you a fan of the Biebs? Tell me in the comments.

Are celebrities tricking us into thinking they’re famous?

You should follow Gurl on Twitter