Nobody Beats the Biebs

"**Nobody Beats the Biebs**" is the fifth episode of the first season of *Atlanta*. It is the fifth episode of the series overall. It was released on September 27, 2016 on FX.

## Premise

Ayyye, okay! We got celebs in the building balling for the kids. I love me some Justin Bieber. Man, Paper Boi stay hating tho haha.

## Plot

At a youth charity basketball event, Alfred Miles notices an attractive interviewer, Val Joyner, in attendance. He tries to both hit on and get an interview with her, both unsuccessful. She only knows him as "the guy who shot someone" and that both she and her audience are not into the "gangster thing." Her light-skinned coworker approaches and calls her away despite Al's protests, and he bitterly refers to him as "Damon Wayans."

Al and Earnest Marks watch Justin Bieber, a braggadocious black hip-hop artist, arrive to Al's annoyance. His annoyance increases when Bieber only recognizes him as a shooter and when Joyner eagerly calls him over for an interview, in which he casually touches her face and shouts "I'm gonna dunk on a bitch!" before dabbing and leaving. Earn encourages Al to work with Bieber for publicity, which Al is vehemently opposed to. As Al leaves to go get ready for the charity game, Earn is approached by a white manager named Janice, mistaking him for a man named Alonzo. He hesitantly does not correct her and lets her take him to a nearby VIP event. Darius goes to a shooting range with a custom target and checks out a Glock 9. He goes to his lane and unrolls his target, revealing it to be a dog.

Al watches Bieber urinate on a wall before the game and expresses disgust, despite his nearby teammate insisting that "he's just trying to figure it out." The game begins and Justin showboats obnoxiously every time he scores. Al becomes aggressive and starts blocking Bieber's shots, leading the two to square off and trade insults, Bieber sidestepping Al and scoring on him triumphantly. Two white men approach Darius, aghast at his choice of target. He points out the hypocrisy in them shooting human targets and two Muslim men back Darius up, insisting that "a revolution will rise from within," which causes Darius to sheepishly back up from the situation. The range owner approaches Darius with his gun trained on him to eject him for causing a fuss. He gets his ID back and asks for the dog poster, and the owner tells him to get out.

Earn successfully networks for Al at the VIP event and gets a drink when Janice approaches him, still believing him to be Alonzo. She presses the importance of loyalty, then reveals that she knows Alonzo sold her out to their company and got her fired. She smugly tells him that he is going to ruin him for his betrayal and moves to leave. Earn stops her and finally tells her that he is not Alonzo, but she ignores him and insists that she will make sure "you die homeless." A perplexed Earn sighs. Al tackles Bieber as he tries to make a dunk and they brawl in the middle of the court, cursing each other out. In the aftermath, Bieber apologizes to the reporters and claims he has "been trying to be so cool lately that I became someone I'm not." He turns his cap around and proclaims his love of Christ and sings a single from his upcoming album, *Justice*. A despondent Al approaches Joyner and again asks for an interview so he can apologize publicly. She rejects him, telling him to "play your part" and that "people don't want Justin to be the asshole. They want you to be the asshole. You're a rapper. That's your job." Earn approaches and asks how the game was, Al telling him it does not matter. Earn asks to leave, and they do as Bieber continues to perform for the cheering crowd.

## Gallery

### Video

Season 1 Ep. 5 - Nobody Beats the Biebs Trailer