The Hailey Bieber 'Drama' Is Actually Just Cyberbullying, and We're All Complicit

This was my Carrie moment, my version of being told to “Plug it up” by the mean girls. To this day, it's one of the worst memories of my life. 

Moving swiftly back to the present, I believe the discourse surrounding Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber's alleged feud has tapped into my preteen insecurities about popularity, bullying, and—most specifically—mean girls. 

In the latest installment of Hailey versus Selena, the latter posted a video revealing that she'd accidentally overlaminated her brows. TikTok sleuths soon spotted that Kylie Jenner (one of Bieber's best friends) posted a close-up of Bieber's brows with the caption “This was an accident???” deducing that the pair were throwing shade at Gomez's brows. 

Jenner immediately quashed the rumor, accusing fans of “making something out of nothing,” while Gomez agreed, replying to her comment, “Agreed @kyliejenner It's all unnecessary.” 

If this weren't exhausting enough, one TikTok user unearthed an old clip of Hailey Bieber appearing to gag at the mention of Taylor Swift, a.k.a. known bestie of Selena Gomez. The TikTok included the text “This is real Hailey Bieber,” calling her a “mean girl” and a “bully.” Gomez reportedly commented on the clip, “So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game,” although this appears to have been deleted.

“Gomez and Bieber are asking fans to give it a rest, so what’s actually driving our urge to pick a side?”

Many fans have jumped on this clip as evidence of Bieber being a “mean girl” despite the fact it's clearly taken out of context. In turn, this has emboldened some social media users to launch further character attacks on Bieber, calling her “jealous” and “talentless” as well as gleefully posting clips that somehow prove her husband, Justin Bieber, doesn't actually “love” her. Brutal, or what? 

Gomez’s taking a break from social media for the sake of her mental health and Bieber’s speaking out about trolls' impact on her mental health haven't deterred people (including me) from lapping up content about the feud—invariably coming out as #TeamSelena. Even Gomez and Bieber are asking fans to give it a rest, so what's actually driving our urge to pick a side? 

In her new book Unlikeable Female Characters, film critic Anna Bogutskaya devotes a chapter to unpacking the “mean girl” trope in popular culture. 

Using the likes of Regina George as a reference point, Bogutskaya argues that such characters are intentionally crafted to be one-dimensional, devoid of any meaningful inner life or vulnerability. They exist solely for external validation—boys, appearance, and status—while the film's heroine is capable of broader human qualities like ambition, friendship, and belonging. In this way, we're taught to see ourselves within the heroine, positioning us in direct conflict with our antiheroine: the mean girl. 

Unlike previous celebrity feuds—see Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, and Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods—the majority of the discourse surrounding Gomez and Bieber has taken place almost entirely on TikTok, which is the perfect breeding ground for fan theories.