Entertainment

Can We Stop Starting Fights on Social Media?

by Kadeen Griffiths

What is it with celebrities and insulting each other on social media? I'm aware that we live in a very open society where we gleefully put any small bit of information — from where we are to what we're eating — on Facebook and Instagram, but you'd think that people would use the Internet for something a little better than feuding. When Adrienne Bailon made negative comments about Rob Kardashian in an interview with Latina magazine, Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian defended him on their Twitters, because nobody's messing with their brother especially when he's dealing with personal issues of his own. In the aftermath of their blunt comments, all eyes have been on Adrienne Bailon for some kind of rebuttal or response. Thursday evening, Bailon posted a message to Kim on Instagram expressing her disappointment and making it clear that no one really talks to each other anymore.

"Fame and a career are two different things. I've always had a career. I have been working hard since I was 15 years old. Being someone's 'girlfriend' was never what I wanted to be famous for," wrote Bailon. "What makes you 'famous' isn't always what you want to be 'labeled' as, or known for. If anyone should understand that... It should be you. I also stated in the article that none of this would have stopped me from being in love and being in that relationship. I just would have gone about it differently. You can love someone just as much in private. We all learn from our first loves."

In one simple picture message, Bailon has not only defend herself, shamed Kim for her knee-jerk defense of Rob, and clarified her own mature outlook on her former relationship, but she's also made what appears to be a thinly-veiled reference to Kim Kardashian's sex tape, which is what launched her into super stardom to begin with. Shots fired. However, with the ping pong ball now in Kim's court, I can't help but wonder why the Kardashians and Bailon don't just settle their differences in private instead of sending each other messages on social media to let the world in on their feud.

Gerardo Mora/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

It seems that social media is the way to go if you really want to start a fight with someone in Hollywood. Azaelia Banks has essentially turned Twitter wars into an art form, her most recent being Banks' feud with T.I. that eventually devolved into immature "your wife looks like an x" jokes. Justin Bieber got into a physical altercation with Orlando Bloom and spent the day afterward posting incendiary pictures of Miranda Kerr and Bloom to Instagram which he then deleted right afterward. Then there's the almost-feud that occurred between Rihanna and TLC after TLC was implied to disapprove of Rihanna's nudity and Rihanna responded by posting a risqué picture of TLC as the wallpaper of her Twitter along with several sarcastic tweets of herself all covered up.

During that last feud, TLC made a good point that I feel goes over a lot of celebrities' heads these days. Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas said, "I understand that the job that we have that comes with it. But what is not cool is when we have a problem with an artist or if an artist has a problem with us, directly talk to us. Don’t start a Twitter war. That’s silly."

Bailon had every right to publicly defend herself from Kim Kardashian's public criticism of her, but now feels like a good time for both ladies to get off social media and hash out their differences face-to-face. Adrienne Bailon was just opening up about a painful time in her life that, comparatively, didn't make up that much of the content of her Latina interview. Kim and Khloe Kardashian were just defending their brother Rob Kardashian from ill-timed criticism. All three women were right and wrong in what they did and the way they went about them.

It's time to bury the hatchet on this feud and let bygones be bygones. Celebrity feuds are always pretty exhausting in their execution and duration, but celebrity feuds between women make me twice as sad. The media will pit women against each other often enough without them needing to do it themselves.

Image: adrienne_bailon/Instagram