Let’s Talk About How Toxic The Justin Bieber Discourse Has Gotten

Note: This post is an Op-Ed and shares the author’s personal views.

The way people are talking about Justin Bieber right now is making me hella uncomfortable, so let’s talk about it.

Raymond Hall / GC Images

If you’ve been online within the past few weeks, you’ve likely stumbled upon content claiming that the singer’s appearance and social media posts are cause for “mental health concerns.” Every Instagram story of his becomes fodder for a wave of TikTok sleuths to dissect it (and get their own rewards in the process).

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For what it’s worth, Justin’s team have shut this down. A representative for him said in January that the past year has been “very transformative for him as he ended several close friendships and business relationships that no longer served him.” They further said that speculation about his physical and mental health is “exhausting and pitiful and shows that despite the obvious truth, people are committed to keeping negative, salacious, harmful narratives alive.”

Yet it continues. I’ve noticed that a celebrity being candid about their mental health can just as swiftly turn back to be used as a weapon against them. The “mental health awareness” crowd is quick to judge against any perceived transgression. Britney Spears is another famous person who’s very publicly undergone trauma and likes to post quirky or offbeat content. Cue the comments claiming that she should be put back into a conservatorship and literally have her rights stripped.

And so Justin has been open about previously having been depressed and abused substances. Does that give us the right to look at a picture of him appearing tired and assume that poor mental health is the cause? A new baby, working late, getting older, just a bad day — none of these equally as likely possibilities aren’t given the same gravity. Believe me, it’s occurred to me that as someone with previous mental health issues, if I died now, people would immediately assume it was that — which just really sucks as someone who’s spent the past few years working to get better. Justin Bieber probably won’t see your tweets, but I sure will!

Even if there is some kind of mental health thing going on, does that excuse the salacious tone at play here? From Amanda Bynes to Pete Davidson, the tabloids love to guess which star might be at the cusp of a mental breakdown. In their own words, this is not helpful: Pete recently said in an interview, “I look at other celebrities and I’m less judgy. They’re dogging Bieber now — leave the kid alone, he’s clearly exhausted and just trying to be a father to his kid.” Mental health is not a public mystery that needs to be solved — he can tell us in his own time, if he ever even wants to.

Many of the assumptions are that Justin’s behavior is a coded jab at Selena Gomez. Again, that’s another assumption toward two people who haven’t dated in eight years. For what it’s worth, some Bieber fans have been pointing out amid the chaos that Justin’s posting isn’t even that irregular for him.

But there’s an undertone here that can get downright conspiratorial. See: Hailey Bieber. A video which calls her a “psycho stalker” has recently gone viral, with the YouTube version having 4.2 million views (if you’ve heard about a seven-part series on TikTok, it’s referring to this). Never mind that the video is laden with inaccuracies, no, all of this is just a sign that they’re breaking up for the 10 millionth time.

I’m sure many people commenting on Justin are doing so under the guise of “caring.” But, to me, it always feels the same as it always has: Gather round everyone, let’s look at what the circus has in store for us today.