In Defense of Justin Bieber: Why He's Not a Villain in His Comment War With Selena Gomez

From Seventeen

Are you all caught up on the apocalyptic events that went down between Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez on Instagram over the past 24 hours? No? Well, here is the bullet-points version. 1) Justin threatened to go private on Insta over hate flung at his new bae, Sofia Richie. 2) Fans freaked out. 3) Selena stepped in, telling him not to post pictures with Sofia if he can't handle the hate and to appreciate his fans more. 4) Justin responded, accusing her of using him for attention. 5) Selena reportedly clapped right back, accusing him of cheating and not appreciating his supporters enough.

While all of this was going down, Twitter threw a #SelenaEndedJustinParty on Twitter, joyously celebrating Justin's downfall, and all of this kind of has me scratching my head wondering what the heck Justin Bieber did wrong in this situation.

Don't get me wrong - this isn't an essay about how Justin is a great guy and doesn't deserve to be criticized. Based on what we know of Jelena's relationship, Justin wasn't a great boyfriend. And if his hit single "Sorry" is anything to go by, he'd probably admit that. Plus, Justin's rocky past, including run-ins with the law, erratic behavior, and refusing to take pics with his fans, makes it easy to imagine him as the bad guy in this situation.

But does standing up for Sofia really make him a villain? Isn't Justin allowed to have his honeymoon phase with a new girlfriend/friend/fling/bae/whatever Sofia is to him?

Celeb couples post pictures together all the time. These days, it feels like not a day goes by when Chloe Moretz and Brooklyn Beckham don't share a new hopelessly adorable picture together. And even Selena posted a ton of pictures with Zedd when they were a thing last year. That's what two people do when they're exploring the beginning of a relationship - post pics together.

Even if the scandal is really about Justin's shade toward his fans, he isn't the first celebrity to threaten to quit Instagram and he won't be the last. Demi Lovato quit Twitter and Instagram back in June and came back a day later. Even Selena threatened to quit Instagram earlier this year when fans created unnecessary drama over a joke she made about having a bad boyfriend.

She didn't quit, though. She was just responding in the heat of the moment. Posturing, if you will. And the same can be said for Justin. While I can't say with certainty that Justin actually appreciates his fans or not, Justin's threat to quit Instagram in defense of someone he cares about shouldn't be damning in the eyes of Beliebers or Selenators. If anything, isn't it something you'd encourage him to do for a prospective girlfriend - a sign he's possibly turning a new leaf?

Of course, Justin's jab that Selena needed him for attention is laughable. She had a successful career before Jelena was a thing and will continue to slay long after Jelena is forgotten. Yes, she's written songs about him in the past that have garnered a ton of media attention ("The Heart Wants What It Wants", "Same Old Love"), but the same can be said for him ("Sorry", "Where Are U Now?").

Sure, it's pretty likely that Selena doesn't like seeing pictures of Sofia Richie plastered all over her ex's timeline, and who can blame her? No girl wants to see their ex bae'd up and happy with a new girl, especially when that ex never treated you right.

But responding to the situation publicly and cosigning fans' belief that Justin doesn't appreciate them wasn't necessarily fair to him, especially considering she could have DM'ed him privately. It's not hard to understand why Justin lashed out with a response that wasn't fair to Selena. And it's easy to get why Selena got the last word, dragging Justin's indiscretions in their relationship into the drama (if that last comment is real).

Jelena's endless relationship roller coaster - from trying to be supportive exes one day to taking jabs at one another the next - is probably the most relatable thing about them. They were each other's first loves, which explains why cutting each other out of their respective lives completely has been challenging. And I guess that's the thing about Justin and Selena - at the end of the day, these two still care about each other deeply, for better or for worse.

But in the end, Justin shouldn't be made out to be a bad guy for liking someone new and treating her well - it's what we all wanted for Selena, and what we should all want for Sofia, too.

You don't have to love Justin Bieber. You don't have to forgive him for how he treated Selena when they dated. You can even be skeptical about whether or not he's actually changed his ways - he's certainly done a lot in the past to warrant some skepticism.

But don't vilify him when he treats the new girl he's dating with respect. It's not fair. Sometimes good relationships just don't work out. It's easier to make sense of the confusion when you have someone to blame. But nothing about this is easy. Sometimes, nobody is the bad guy.