Hailey Bieber Accused of Shading Selena Gomez and Reigniting Feud with Lyrics from Beyoncé's 'Jolene'

Beyoncé recently released a fiery cover version of the 1973 classic song Jolene in her highly anticipated new album Cowboy Carter. The real-life circumstances of the legendary singer, Dolly Parton, inspired Jolene. In the song, Parton begs a woman not to take her man ("I'm begging of you, please don't take my man"). As per Cosmopolitan, the song's primary inspiration was a redhead bank teller who made advances toward her husband when they were newly married.  

Shortly after Beyoncé released her album, Hailey Bieber highlighted the track on her Instagram Stories. The Rhode Skin founder shared a screen grab of the song streaming on her Spotify account, captioning the image with "Whew [angry face emoji]." This prompted fans to note the sharp dig pointed toward her husband Justin Bieber's ex-Selena Gomez.

According to The US Sun, the former Victoria's Secret model has been accused of being the actual 'Jolene' while Gomez and Justin dated on and off between 2010 and 2018. Fans expressed their angst over her obsession online, "Hailey Bieber’s obsession with Selena Gomez needs to be studied…,” one fan wrote. “This woman is so obsessed,” a second fan agreed. “She is this way just because doesn't [sic] have confidence in herself The karma for Hailey will bite harder,” a third fan commented. Chiming in, a user reiterated, “It’s not even just Selena at this point,” while another added, “She thinks [sic] everybody wants her man.”

Hailey appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alexandra Cooper in September 2022 and discussed her relationship with the Yummy hitmaker and his former partner. The former model clarified that she never dated Justin while he was with Gomez, "I can say, period, point blank, I was never with him when he was in a relationship with anybody— that's the end of it."

Additionally, recently this month, Gomez addressed their feud rumors via Instagram and revealed that they had made peace. She said, "Hailey Bieber reached out to me and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity...This isn't what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying. I've always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop." 

In response, Hailey took to Instagram and thanked Gomez, "I want to thank Selena for speaking out, as she and I have been discussing how to move past this ongoing narrative between her and me. The last few weeks have been very hard for everyone involved and millions of people are seeing so much hate around this which is extremely harmful. Things can always be taken out of context or construed differently than they were intended." She continued, "In the end, I believe love will always be bigger than hate and negativity, and there is always an opportunity to meet each other with more empathy and compassion."