Beliebers have a terrible reputation. Even worse than Directioners, Little Monsters, Glamberts, and the rest. On Sunday, some of them showed the world why.
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’s reunion was never going to please everyone. In fact, it seems to please very few.
But a boycott by some Beliebers who trended the topic “#ignorejustinproject” on Twitter on Sunday, with a tag line of “If Justin can ignore us because of Selena we can ignore him,” illustrates it’s time for Bieber to throw back the little ones and let this element of his fan base fall away.
The gripe of the “#ignorejustinproject” is that Bieber is allegedly letting his reconciliation with Gomez distract from his duties as their “idol” on and offline.
Who knew he signed up for that 24/7/365?
Hence the “project” and a plan that only young Belieber girls could come up with, and — even more crazily — possibly imagine would make a 20-year-old want to play with them.
A fan posted a series of ideas intended to make Bieber come to heel in a since deleted tweet.
( Photo: Screengrab. )
These fans say Bieber’s reunion with Gomez has made him “rude.” They insist he doesn’t stop for them when he’s out if Selena is with him, yet will come running back to fans when the dastardly Latina finally throws him to the curb.
One anti-Bieberite blistered:
Justin’s a dumbass and if he hasn’t realized it yet he soon will. Just leave it alone, LET HIM get hurt again and see where he turns.
— i love you so i (@JustinsHumanToo) June 20, 2014
Fans behind two counter trends on Sunday – “#supportjustinproject” and “ #ilovejustinproject” – slammed the “ignore project” as “hurtful,” “immature,” “ignorant” and unbecoming of a true fan.
One of the faithful lamented:
#ignorejustinproject ? This has gone too far. I seriously hope Justin isn’t online to see this trend. His own fans are trying to hurt him.WTH
— I LOVE JUSTIN (@AlexCruz0) June 23, 2014
Although the “#ignorejustinproject” says its aim is just to teach Bieber a lesson about being ignored, many of the tweets posted by furious fans were more focused on deriding Selena’s place as the recurring leading lady in Justin’s life. One protestor raged:
I’m not here to kiss his ass and to support every desicion and I will never ever support that ugly mess called Jelena
— izzy (@MCCANNSLAYSS) June 20, 2014
There’s also some rewriting of history at work.
Far from slacking online, Bieber routinely tops Billboard’s Social 50 chart , which ranks the most active artists across social media. The 20-year-old regularly uploads on Instagram and Twitter , flooded his just-opened Vine account in May with skits and only stopped when the N-word videos crisis erupted on June 1.
Whatever one’s stance on whether or not Bieber should be condemned now for clueless use of pejoratives at the age of 14 and 15, it is reasonable to assume it must have been traumatic to be exhaustively and publicly condemned , as a black and white Instagram he posted before deleting while at a family event in Canada suggested.
Gomez reportedly went to Bieber’s side at that time.
( Photo: Instagram of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez , “Our love is Unconditional.” )
That was only two weeks ago.
So, it says something mean-spirited about some Beliebers that a girl who helped their “idol” through that period is maligned and Bieber is begrudged space to recover emotionally, enjoy his rekindled romance with Selena and spend time with visiting grandparents — as they did this week.
It’s worth noting 2014 was booked out by Bieber as a necessary year off after a 15-month world tour amid various controversies.
Although Bieber came online on Monday, there was around an eight hour gap during which he left an unsmiling photo of himself with his grandparents as his last tweet.
It was simply captioned: “Love.”
If you’re a Justin Bieber fan: if someone makes him happy, isn’t that enough?
Love pic.twitter.com/VHLDXBxr7P
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) June 23, 2014