Remember celebrity culture before Instagram? When we had little insight about their many feuds, flirtations, and fall-outs with other known friends and foes? When celebrities were beacons of wealth, status, and exclusivity? Sure, we envied them, and obsessed over the brief glimpses we got into their lives via tabloids, but it was fine. It was a guilty pleasure; an accepted pastimes.
Then, social media had to come and screw it all up. Now we see the young, rich, and famous youth for what they are — naive, spoiled, and prideful.
When celebrities let us behind the curtain, and give fans access to their private lives, like the Kardashians so brilliantly do, it can be fun and entertaining. Though when others, like Taylor Swift, do and make a few missteps, it can be damning. Swift, who has basically weaned herself off of her once teeming social media profiles, can surely attest to that.
However, that's not what we're discussing today. We are now in the midst of arguably the second most A-List social media scuffle of the year.
Enter Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Sofia Richie. And their Instagram accounts.
To summarise, Bieber pulled a Kanye West (again.) He is putting his interests, and those he finds worthy (like Richie,) above his fans. He threatened to make his Instagram account private after seeing how his "beliebers" were attacking him and Richie on social media after they started sharing pictures of each other, leading everyone to believe that the two are dating. Bieber's threat to vanish from the lives of his beliebers has, truly, been a long time coming — the 22-year-old singer has been on the fritz with his "beliebers" lately. He's yanked meet-and-greets from his tour. He no longer takes photos with fans to the point where he has publicly rejected them as they approach him. He also shamed a fan onstage.
Simply, Bieber > beliebers.
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Gomez caught wind of this, and commented on the Instagram post. Yes, you read that correctly. She took the time out her life — a life that involves a world tour and almost 100 MILLION Instagram followers — to call-out Bieber in his comments? But why?
Whhyyyyy waste your time? Bieber is rude. Be above it. Don't scam yourself by stooping to his level, Gomez.
Not only this, but Gomez then took the petty to level 10 by uploading a collage of her with all her "selenators" further proving her point that she is more connected with, and appreciative of, her fans than anyone else — namely Bieber, her ex.
Soon after, #SelenaEndedJustinParty began trending on Twitter as the Jelena 'shippers (fans who continue to pine for the long-gone Bieber and Gomez relationship) began to split and take sides. This glimpse into bad blood between exes weirdly humanises the former power couple, but also brings a few questions to light.
Was Bieber pulling (another) West by implying that Gomez was using him to become famous? This is untrue as Gomez had a pretty successful child-acting career.
Was Gomez trying to shame Bieber by calling Richie — who is underage — his girlfriend? Because no media sites have deemed Richie and Bieber a couple yet.
Was Gomez using this as a strategic way to get ahead of Bieber, and solidify her allegiance and attention to her fans? I feel like this is a good opportunity for Gomez to reach the pinnacle of pop stardom and take over the open throne Swift left available with her abrupt exit.
Is Richie really regretting ever getting involved in this toxic love triangle? She seems to be getting the most beat up over all this. Richie is being dragged for being the object of affection from Bieber. I feel for the rich and famous 17-year-old daughter of Lionel Richie whose Instagram feed has been littered with snake emojis and #Jelena hashtags. She's also friends with the woman who Scott Disick was rumoured to have cheated on Kourtney Kardashian with because the world is that small.
But, still my initial question remains — when did celebrities get so petty? Leave that to the 12-year-old fans making 'shipper accounts. You all have mega huge reputations to uphold, so stay in your lanes.
Let's leave the pettiness and the scamming to the professionals.