Leon Purvis is the definition of viral.
The Glassboro High School student's one-man, nearly yearlong quest to get Justin Bieber to roll with him to prom—just as a bro, mind you—has gotten him tons of attention around the country.
The video, which has more than 143,000 views on YouTube, has been covered by media outlets from Philadelphia to the United Kingdom, and been noticed by celeb blogger Perez Hilton and radio and TV host Ryan Seacrest, among others.
“This guy—I like the way his brain works, because he thinks a step or two ahead of his classmates,” Seacrest said on his radio show. “He wants Justin to go as his wingman…that is a brilliant idea.”
The campaign even netted Purvis front-page coverage in USA Today, as part of a piece on teens trying to get celebrities to go to prom with them.
But all the attention from his efforts—from the original video, to a Twitter hashtag blitz and an online petition—has come without a peep from the one guy who Purvis wants to hear from:
Bieber himself.
So with a month to go until his school’s prom, Purvis has launched another video and is keeping the social media push up, in the hopes of hearing an answer—any answer—from the teen heartthrob.
“I try my best to keep the buzz moving,” Purvis tweeted this week.
He doesn’t want to see a year of effort go to waste without hearing back, though.
“I spent my whole entire summer, I spent my whole entire junior year, just so Justin Bieber could respond to me about prom,” Purvis says in the latest video. “If he did say no, I would understand.”
The Glassboro teen is keeping the invite open, and said it could be a chance for the celeb to kick back, relax a little and take a momentary break from the spotlight.
“Justin Bieber won't ever have a normal prom, so why not attend prom with me? I am fun to be around,” Purvis said.
His mantra, like one of Bieber’s hits, is never say never.
