After Bieber and pal Kylie Jenner posted an Instagram that fans believed was mocking one of Gomez’s TikTok videos, the internet descended into a frenzy of trolling Bieber and digging up old videos and interviews. On Friday, the Rare Beauty founder officially took to her Instagram Story to ask her followers to put an end to it all.
“Hailey Bieber reached out to me and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity,” her story read over a black background. “This isn’t what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying.”
She concluded the statement writing, “I’ve always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop.”
Later the same day, Bieber posted a similar note to her Instagram Stories. She explained that the past few weeks have been “very hard” for everyone and echoed Gomez’s statements about the double-edged nature of social media.
“I want to thank Selena for speaking out,” Bieber wrote. “Her and I have been discussing the last few weeks how to move past this ongoing narrative between her and I.” She urged everyone to be more thoughtful about their comments and emphasized the need for empathy and compassion.
Last month, Gomez told her followers that she would be taking a break from social media because of the “silly” internet-fueled rumors. “I’m going to be taking a second from social media because this is a little silly,” she said during a TikTok live. “I’m 30, I’m too old for this. But I love you so much and I’ll see you guys sooner than later. I’m just gonna take a break from everything.”
In case you missed it, the two stars squashed any and all rumors of an alleged feud back in October when they posed together at the Academy Museum Gala. Bieber even went on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast to bust any myths about her relationship with husband Justin Bieber and clarify their timeline.
“When him [Justin Bieber] and I ever started hooking up or like, anything of that sort, he was not ever in a relationship ever at any point. I would never — it’s not my character to mess with someone’s relationship. I would just never do that. I was raised better than that. I’m not interested in doing that, and I never was,” the model shared. “I think that there are situations where you can still kind of have back and forth with someone but even that was not the situation. Like I can say, period point blank, I was never with him when he was in a relationship with anybody. That’s the end of it.”
