It seems to have gotten lost amid the resurgence of Jelena drama.
On Sunday, Justin Bieber threatened to make his Instagram private after he shared several photos of his new possible girlfriend Sofia Richie, who subsequently became the target of internet bullies unable to deal with the fact that they will never date Justin Bieber. It's probable that nothing much would have come of Justin's message, if it weren't for the thing that happened next: Selena Gomez reportedly left a comment about how he should "stop posting pictures" of Sofia if he "can't handle the hate." Suddenly the whole situation turned into a conversation about Jelena and their complicated past, and an arms race to see who treats their fans better. What's gotten buried is Justin's original point: Fans don't have a right to bully people — not other fans, not the famous person they claim to adore, and not that famous person's significant other.
Fan spats have become something of a regular occurrence for Justin as the Purpose tour crisscrosses the United States. Just after the tour kicked off in March, Justin canceled meet-and-greets with fans because the experience made him feel "drained and unhappy." In May, he threw a fan's gift out a window (though that situation may have been more complicated than it looked). In July, he told fans in Atlantic City that he didn't want them to throw gifts at him because "I probably don't want that shit," and a couple of days later refused to give a fan a hug at one of his Purpose pop-up shops.
Selena, who didn't take issue with those particular episodes, at least not publicly, is now rushing to the defense of Beliebers and fandom in general. Even if her original comment is Photoshopped (which is possible though unlikely given that Selena still hasn't denied it), her subsequent Instagrams aren't exactly subtle. "My entire heart," she captioned a photo of herself reaching out to a little girl from the stage. "My whole life," she wrote on a collage of fan encounters. The message is clear: If you love your fans, you'll do anything for them, including keep your relationship private and your Instagram public. Wait, what?
There's no question that Justin is having trouble dealing with his fame right now, as well as his fans, and that he's committing the cardinal celebrity sin of looking ungrateful for his success. But none of that excuses the bullying of a woman who's done nothing but get photographed with a man who happens to be extremely famous. Sofia has hidden comments from her Instagram page, but all it takes is a Twitter search of "Sofia Richie ugly" or a quick glance at Justin's Instagram comments to see just how much hate is coming their way. It's not his responsibility to hide his relationship to protect his new paramour from fans; it's the fans' responsibility not to be assholes. And when he asks his "fans" to please stop bullying someone he cares about, it doesn't mean that he has forsaken his Beliebers. It just means that he wants the bad eggs to stop being so terrible.
The idea that Justin should just hide the relationship if he "can't handle the hate" is especially misguided given that the mean tweets about Sofia Richie started several days before Justin shared any photos of her. Consider Briana Jungwirth, who was basically unknown until People reported that she was carrying Louis Tomlinson's baby. The fact that he'd never spoken about her or posted photos with her didn't stop angry One Direction fans from descending upon her with harassment, death threats, and hacking. After the birth of baby Freddie, someone even called Louis and told him they wished his child were dead, which — not that this excuses it at all — happened after it was well established that Louis and Brianna were no longer in a romantic relationship.
Charlie Hunnam, who doesn't use social media at all and has always kept his personal life very private, had to post a video message earlier this year asking his so-called fans to stop harassing his longtime girlfriend Morgana McNelis. He recorded the message for a Facebook fan page, after fans accused the page's owner of fabricating Charlie's previous text-only message on the same subject. Even celebrities who try to keep their relationships out of the public eye suffer this kind of abuse, so Justin hiding Sofia from his social media output would make no difference in terms of publicity. The only way Beliebers wouldn't find out about her is if they conducted their entire relationship inside a geodesic dome, preferably located on Jupiter.
So what, exactly, does Justin owe his fans in this or any situation? It's a persistent myth of contemporary fandom that celebrities "owe" their success to their fans, and must capitulate to the fans' will for all eternity because they wouldn't be anywhere without them. (Recall Amy Schumer eviscerating a fan who demanded a photo because he "paid" for her.) But what is so unreasonable about not wanting strangers to touch you before you have to play a 20,000-seat arena, or not wanting to stop whatever you're doing just because someone you pass on the street wants a hug? Buying a "No Photos" t-shirt or a ticket to the Purpose tour doesn't entitle you to anything except what you actually bought — a t-shirt or a concert ticket. It doesn't mean you have eternal free reign to touch your idol if you see him in public or throw him puff-painted hats that yeah, he probably doesn't want. Fans do not own him simply because they bought the deluxe edition of Purpose on iTunes for $13.99, and they certainly don't have the right to insult or intimidate his girlfriends, then act surprised when Justin calls them out for it.
His point about bullying still stands, regardless of anything that transpired later with Selena. Now can we all go back to expressing our love by putting a poster on the wall and call it a day?
Follow Eliza on Twitter.
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