Justin Bieber's publicity stunt for 'Beauty and a Beat' Nicki Minaj collaboration video

So, there's been some hullabaloo this week surrounding Justin Bieber's stolen computer, leading him to tweet, "sucks when u take personal footage and people dont respect your privacy."

Which of course sparked a firestorm of speculation about what the "personal footage" was, with people naturally thinking "sex tape" or "nude photos."

But it turns out it was all a publicity stunt for Bieber's new music video featuring Nicki Minaj, "Beauty and a Beat" (video above).

It started Thursday (Oct. 11), when unknown Twitter user gexwy started this series of tweets:

• good job with the password protected @justinbieber. weak
• and I'm looking at the rest now. all of it
• wanna see the rest of the footage from his camera.
• @alfredoflores @justinbieber recognize this? http://youtu.be/1k7LRcUF4ho  I got more. so much more
• TOMORROW. u've been warned. should of listened @justinbieber

But Bieber himself got in on the act, continually tweeting the hashtag #noon and linking to sites that posted about what his "personal footage" could be. He then tweeted:

since i was 14 i have had a lot of things said about me, from dying, to taking hormones, to dying again, to stuff about my family... to saying i had a baby with a woman i never even met. nude pics, drugs, my family, my character...but today...today i get to be in on it...

And then the music video dropped. So there you have it. A rather stupid hoax from a worldwide sensation who doesn't really need the help drumming up interest in his new music video.