UPDATE: Intent on righting his wrong, Justin Bieber posted a screenshot on Instagram earlier today (September 17) of Shawn's hit single "Stitches," proving that he has, for real, taken an interest in his fellow Canadian pop star. Justin captioned the photo with, "Shawn I checked out the music and I'm so proud! So glad to see another boy from Canada crushin it. #canadiansdoitbetter."

The original story appears below.

Justin Bieber does not know who Shawn Mendes is — at least, if you'd like to take his puzzlement upon hearing Shawn's name during a recent radio interview at face value.

Alternatively, you could make a pretty good argument that Bieber practices the teachings of Mariah Carey, and his "I don't know him" was actually an homage to one of Mimi's many iconic moments in shade.

In any case, Shawn has some major doubts about that.

The Vine superstar-turned-pop-singer-songwriter, who has racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube with covers, including Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me," and is currently on tour opening for Taylor Swift on the massively successful 1989 Tour, was asked by Digital Spy about the odd response, and whether he thought Justin had seen his cover.

"Yeah, I'm sure he has. He probably knows of me...maybe he just hates me!" he reportedly joked. "I think I'm very different to him. I play acoustic shows all the time and he's more of a popstar but being compared to him is great. He's super-talented so it doesn't bug me."

Mmhmm.

Since the interview, Bieber followed Shawn on Twitter, now making it very clear that he, at least now, knows who Shawn Mendes is. Baby steps? Hopes for an eventual collaboration? To be continued.

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