Following a very public debate with ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber has gone ahead and done the unthinkable:
He has deleted his Instagram account.
For real. The singer has actually taken this extreme step.
It comes a few days after Bieber and new girlfriend Sofia Richie made their relationship Instagram official, posing for a number of photos together in Tokyo, Japan.
The pictures announced Bieber and Richie to the world as a couple, while also angering a large number of Bieber fans in the process.
As they so often do with any new Bieber hook-up, these misguided followers sent a number of hateful messages to Richie.
In response, Bieber issued a threat, writing on Sunday:
“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."
And it was this seemingly simple directive that snowballed into a gigantic mess for Bieber.
Upon reading it, Selena Gomez allegedly got very upset.
As you can see in the following screen capture, Bieber's ex left a comment on his Instagram page, one that came down on Justin for disrespecting his fans.
It also blamed Bieber for any harassment Richie had received because he was the one who placed her in the spotlight.
"If you can't handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol – it should be special between you two only," Selena seemingly wrote.
There have been some questions over whether or not Gomez actually posted this comment because, first, it would be very unlike her to call Bieber out in such a way.
Second, it's pretty easy to Photoshop a comment on to someone's Instagram page.
This isn't as believable as a message left directly on Selena's own social media account, you know?
But it appeared as if Bieber read Selena's reply and issued a a bitter one of his own, writing as a retort:
"It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love.
"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 beliebers."
This was also shared online as a screen capture:
Things just turned uglier from there.
Gomez mocked Bieber's response by using some of the same language... and then by accusing him of cheating on her! More than once!
"Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times, are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive, no wonder fans are mad," she wrote, adding:
"Sad. All love."
Whoa! Major shot fired, huh?
From here, Bieber tried to get the final say by claiming that Gomez cheated on him.
With Zayn Malik!
“I cheated /.. oh I forgot about You and Zayn?” Bieber wrote in the final screen capture to go viral.
Pretty crazy stuff, right?
Many people refused to believe these messages were real because, as mentioned above, they did NOT come from either Bieber or Gomez's official accounts.
They were simply comments left on Bieber's page, something easily manufactured if you know certain Internet editing tricks.
But Bieber has now deleted his Instagram page. This is the message you see if you try going to it:
Would he really do so if the epic back-and-forth were not legitimate?
Gomez, meanwhile, has not followed suit.
Her Instagram page is still very much alive and well, with its latest two posts being snapshots and references to her ongoing Revival Tour.
