Arts & Entertainment

Wilmington's 'Justin Bieber' is an Internet Sensation

Three Wilmington teenagers are getting some major Internet traffic thanks to a prank video portraying Justin Bieber.

Justin Bieber from Wilmington? Never say never.

A trio of local teenagers recently combined their video making skills with an uncanny resemblance to a pop sensation. The result? A massively popular YouTube clip.

Brothers Jeremy Frost, 16, and Zack Frost, 19, along with Jimmy Lawrenson, 16, make up Three Amigos Comedy. Each week the Wilmington residents film, edit and post humorous videos on YouTube. But it was their most recent effort that has garnered them national attention.

Find out what's happening in Wilmingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

When Bieber was in Boston for his concert at TD Garden, the Three Amigos decided it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of Jeremy’s resemblance to Bieber.

Jeremy dressed up as the pop star while his friends followed him around with cameras pretending to be paparazzi and security. Fans throughout the city believed Jeremy was actually Bieber, and comedy ensued.

Find out what's happening in Wilmingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Since it was posted on Wednesday, the video spiked to more than 122,000 views on YouTube. National media outlets have picked up on the clip, posting it to sites such as Huffington Post and MSN.

“It’s kind of crazy how it all blew up,” said Jeremy, who snapped countless pictures with fans as he remained in character as Bieber during the prank. “We were just going to do it on a small scale, but heard that he had a concert and knew we had to go there. I think a lot of people bought into it and went for it. We definitely fooled a lot of people.”

Since the video took off virally, the Amigos have found themselves in the middle of a popularity spike.

“For me, one thing has been that my phone has been going off the hook so much that it’s been hard just to keep it charged,” said Lawrenson. “People have been messaging me, following us on Twitter. It’s like this is a little taste of fame that we’ve been given.”

One of the biggest benefits of the Bieber prank taking off has been that all of the group’s videos have also seen an increase in traffic. Each of the previous Three Amigo clips has gone from around 500 views each before the prank to more than 1,000 after.

Next up for the group is a sequel to a previous clip called Rookie Cop. The Amigos said the filming will be the biggest project they’ve faced to date.

Zack Frost, a film student at Fitchburg State University, said it’s been exciting to see the Three Amigos’ work paying off. He also added that the response has been positive, even from “Beliebers” who were duped by the faux-celebrity. 

“It’s been pretty impressive to see his fan base and how loyal they are to him. It’s a name everyone knows,” said Zack. “They took it really well. All of the fans have been nice to us – or at least most of them.”

Click here to watch the YouTube clip of the Three Amigos Comedy prank.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here