That iconic time Selena Gomez beefed with Justin Bieber over his new girlfriend resurfaces

It’s been eight years since Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez broke up for the final time, and honestly, I’m still obsessed with the drama. It’s one of those relationships that will never get old, and people have uncovered an old feud they had this week that’s just hilarious.

All the way back in August 2016, a whole decade ago now, Justin posted a series of pics of himself and his new girlfriend at the time, Sofia Richie, on Instagram.

Credit: Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock

On the final picture, he threatened to make his Instagram private after constant abuse from his followers, writing: “I’m gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don’t stop the hate this is getting out of hand. If you guys are really fans you wouldn’t be so mean to people that I like.”

Basically, everyone was still shipping him and Selena (obviously) and weren’t very welcoming of Sofia at the time. Justin and Sofia briefly dated in the summer of 2016, from August to September.

Selena defended Sofia and brutally called out her ex in the comments, writing: “If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol – it should be special between you two only. Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you and supported you before anyone ever did.”

Selena gomez is so slow she didn't even get it https://t.co/G8HKFct9bG pic.twitter.com/gPlZeBDZAO

— Messy (@waldorfnewyokrs) January 5, 2026

That wasn’t the end of it either. Justin then shared a cryptic message that seemed to suggest Selena used him to get famous. So savage! “It’s funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love,” he wrote.

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After that, he posted one final comment that said: “I’m not one for anyone receiving hate. Hope u all can be kind to my friends and each other. And yes I love my Believers.” And that was the end of the beef. Selena – one. Justin – zero. I wish we could go back to the time when celebs weren’t afraid to rip into each other online.

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