Justin Bieber Impersonator Dupes Vegas Club with Full Performance

A fake Justin Bieber took the stage at a Las Vegas nightclub after fooling the club’s staff and headliner DJ Gryffin.

XS Nightclub at the Wynn in Las Vegas was treated to a rare surprise on Saturday night, when headliner DJ Gryffin was told that Justin Bieber wanted to perform his hit “Sorry.” But after the performance, the whole thing was revealed to be a ruse—the performer turned out to be a Justin Bieber lookalike, who has since been banned from the venue.

“After an elaborate and multi-step ruse by him and his advance team, a Justin Bieber impersonator was granted access to the XS stage,” said Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver. “As soon as the error was recognized, he was removed from the resort and denied future entry.”

The performer was revealed to be Dylan Desclos, who has appeared as Justin Bieber at various events over the last eight years. His effort to gain access to the stage was reportedly a day-long effort by his team, who invoked Bieber’s recent change in management to alleviate any confusion. “We’re new to the team,” they told nightclub staff.

DJ Gryffin excitedly called out, “We’ve got Justin Bieber in the house!” That escalated things to new heights as the crowd roared in excitement. Gryffin took full responsibility for the mistake with a post on social media titled, “How Bustin Jieber Duped Me During My Own Set.”

“Little did I know I was about to be sorry,” the DJ wrote. “After 4 minutes and 27 seconds of what sounded like Justin Bieber, I found out the worst news imaginable.”

Gryffin can be seen in the clip walking from the stage, still elated from the performance. “That was totally insane!” he can be heard saying, right before he was told the news that the performer was “a complete fake.”

“I literally thought, ‘He put on a lot of weight since the album dropped,’” said Gryffin, referring to the real Bieber’s Swag, released last month.

Desclos wears many of the same tattoos as Bieber, having committed to the persona quite fully. But he hasn’t admitted fault for the ruse, instead blaming his team. “For your information, it wasn’t me who pretended to be the real Justin; it was my team who was behind it. Well, clearly I was the one who passed, but I always say I’m the lookalike…”

That comment has since been removed from Desclos’ social media pages. Desclos’ manager—and yes, he does have one—has declined media requests for comment or interview, at least for now.