Entertainment

Selena Gomez Fans Come For Justin Bieber

by Michelle McGahan

If 2016 is the year of anything, it's the year of receipts. And in the epic showdown between Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber on Instagram (I personally like to picture each of them as high noon cowboys or something), you better believe that Gomez's fans delivered.

To briefly recap all the drama: Bieber uploaded basically his entire camera roll to Instagram on Sunday night, sharing six selfies in a row of himself and his alleged girlfriend Sofia Richie. (Bustle has reached out to Bieber's rep regarding claims that they are dating, but has not yet received a reply.) In response to the backlash from fans, Bieber edited the caption of the last image to read: "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." Gomez then allegedly threw her hat into the ring, defending Bieber's fans and reportedly writing in the comments of her ex's photo that if he "can't handle the hate 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 were there for you before anyone." She then uploaded a ton of fan photos to her own Instagram, captioning one particular collage with: "My whole life. You matter most. Thank you for letting me do what I love every day." A clear dig at Bieber, to say the least.

To this, JB allegedly responded via Instagram by passive-aggressively referring to Gomez as someone who "used him for attention." (Bustle has reached out to reps for Bieber and Gomez regarding their alleged Instagram comments, but has not received a response.)

If you follow the timeline of their careers and look at the fact that Gomez has spent literal years trying to get the media to stop asking her about Bieber, while JB has posted weirdly frequent throwbacks of himself and Gomez, his claim doesn't make any sense. And of course, it didn't take long for the internet to call him out for it.

In fact, Twitter exploded with receipts proving that the only person who should take credit for Gomez's success and fame is Gomez herself — because she earned it, most definitely without "using" Bieber for publicity.

For instance, there's the fact that Gomez was already a bona fide Disney Channel star a solid year before Bieber even released his first single.

And the fact that when he held the record for the most-liked Instagram photo (Gomez, it should be noted, now wears that crown), it was for a Jelena throwback he posted:

Not to mention all of the other embarrassing Jelena throwbacks he shared. Who's using who?

Here's one artist rendering of the truth.

And this tweet, which really just about sums it up.

For her part, Gomez has spent her entire Revival era owning her success and shutting down anyone who attempts to credit Bieber for her hard work — and rightly so.