Justin Bieber: Pop star vandalised QT Hotel in Surfers Paradise during Gold Coast visit

Pop star Justin Bieber trashed a Gold Coast hotel with a late night graffiti session, setting him on course for a war of words with Mayor Tom Tate.

Plenty of celebrities have had come to the Gold Coast and got up to mischief.

But few were more memorable or infamous than pop star Justin Bieber’s stay at the QT in Surfers Paradise in late 2013.

The Baby, Yummy and Beauty and the Beat singer was at the height of his fame when he arrived on the Glitter Strip in November 2013 to let his hair down and party.

But the then-19-year-old on drew not just a crowd of “Beliebers” keen to meet the star but also the wrath of Mayor Tom Tate.

Justin Bieber on the Gold Coast getting KFC for dinner.

Among those who were out to meet him was then-12-year-old Mia Sanders from Upper Coomera who declared she was the singer’s “biggest fan”.

“If I saw him I would cry and faint and probably just die,” she told the Bulletin at the time.

Bieber himself had a wild day out, flanked by bodyguards as he walked through Surfers Paradise and ate at KFC for dinner before heading to a private party at the penthouse of the Moroccan “with dozens of scantily clad women and his entourage”.

He also partied at Sin City nightclub on Orchid Ave.

Bieber played a show at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre before returning to the Gold Coast shortly after midnight on Wednesday, November 27.

Bieber was filmed vandalising the hotel.

But rather than wind down, he instead went back to his hotel room, grabbed a set of spray paint cans and heading down to the QT’s tennis court where he spent 30 minutes vandalising the walls.

He posted an image to his Instagram account at 2am that morning.

Among his artwork “a Pacman ghost-style pink cartoon with black teeth and a black eye”.

Hotel management refused to comment on the incident to the Bulletin but a QT Hotel staff member said the pop singer “could do whatever he liked”.

The graffiti was left behind. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

``We let our guests do whatever they want,’’ she told The Bulletin at the time.

``Anyone would be allowed to do it.

``We even let them make lemonade.’’

However Mr Tate was more than happy to weigh in, calling on Bieber to clean up the mess.

“We’ve all been young once,” he said at the time.

“By the sounds of it, he’s gone and done something really, really silly.

“But he’s got an opportunity to make good – I’m sending, straight away, one of council’s free graffiti kits … and I urge him to treat this city the way Gold Coast fans treat him.”

The graffiti was eventually removed Picture Mike Batterham

Bieber skipped town and headed for Sydney where he continued his tour, leaving the artwork behind.

The stand-off between the Mayor and the QT only escalated when he demanded it remove the graffiti or face being slapped with a “show cause” notice by the council.

A QT spokesman told the Bulletin the hotel considered the work “a coup” and was a “wonderful addition” to the Gold Coast”.

But Mr Tate refused to back down, slamming the hotel’s statement as “irresponsible” and insisted there was “absolutely no chance” he would ­allow the work to remain.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate with one of the councils graffiti kits wanted to give Justin Bieber.

However the Mayor’s critics pointed out that the council had no power to remove the graffiti itself.

The Tate/Bieber battle went global when the Mayor appeared on TMZ and called the Canadian star a “pop princess.

“I’ve got a message for pop princess Justin Beaver,” he said.

“We love your music but we hate your graffiti and your vandalism here in our city.”

Despite initially declaring it would retain the artwork, the QT finally painted over it in early 2014, though it gained lasting infamy, with Travelzoo Australia naming it one of the world’s “10 most scandalous celebrity hotels”.