“Is there anything scarier than an angry Justin Bieber fan?” is the question that Fox News asked in November last year after unemployed Mariah Yeater’s paternity claim against the Boyfriend singer, saw the 20-year-old mother-of-one receive thousands of death threats. And the intimidation tactics aren’t just confined to women seen as posing a threat to the teen idol’s image, but have also been directed at his girlfriend-of-two-years, Selena Gomez, who has received tweets, such as, “We hate you, I swear to god I’ll kill you!” and “You’re dead”.
As online mediums for furious teen fans to express their hormonal hate-filled vitriol increase, so the number of teenage girls attacking any female linked to their favourite heart-throbs continues to rise; creating a celebrity culture in which terrifying death threats, aimed largely at female stars, becomes terrifyingly commonplace.
A Belieber’s hate
“Stay away from Justin, paedophile”, “Selena Gomez is dangerously close to a long, slow painful death”, and “If Selena Gomez breaks Justin Bieber’s heart, I will break her face, I will kill her without kindness”, are just three of the violent and shocking messages that 19-year-old Wizards of Waverly Place actress Selena Gomez received when she went public with boyfriend Justin Bieber, 18, in May last year. The couple had kept their relationship under wraps for months, but their romance was finally revealed after photos of them kissing on a Hawaiian beach hit the internet, leading to Selena being cruelly attacked on Twitter.
But the threats against Gomez weren’t the first time Beliebers, as Justin’s fans are called, have launched one of their hate campaigns. Thirty-one-year-old Kim Kardashian found herself on the wrong side of a Bieber backlash back in May 2010 when the singer tweeted a picture of himself and the reality TV star at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with the caption, “Look it’s my girlfriend.” Kim took the threats in her stride, telling Beibs, “I’m getting death threats from your fans! This is unBeliebable!” Which forced the 18-year-old to step in, tweeting, “Ladies calm down @kimkardashian is a friend. A very sexy friend, but a friend. No need 4 threats.”
And when quizzed about the terrifying messages, Kim gave US magazine her view of events, saying, “I think they were 10-year-olds that got carried away, so he asked all his Bliebers to stop attacking me.”
When 20-year-old Mariah Yeater falsely claimed in November 2011 that Justin was the father of her baby boy, Tristyn, she received messages such as, “Dear Mariah Yeater, Roses are red, violets are blue, stay away from Bieber or Beliebers will kill you” and “I should give you advice. Go away before millions of Beliebers kill you.”
“These girls are obsessed with Justin. They think [Mariah] is lying about being with him and trying to take advantage of him,” Clinical psychologist, Dr Jeffrey Gardere said of the violent tweets. Adding, “[They] feel that she may be trying to openly blackmail him into being in some kind of a relationship and they are angry their idol is being squeezed, manipulated [and] embarrassed.”
One Direction fans go the same way
It’s not only Bieber’s fans who have sent violent threats, as Brit boy band, One Direction’s loyal female following are also known to lash out at anyone seen with the five guys. The most famous victims so far have been the older women linked to the lothario of the group, 18-year-old Harry Styles, whose most recent relationship with 32-year-old British radio DJ, Lucy Horobin, saw her wind up on the receiving end of messages that branded her a “*****” and “sick”, forcing her to quit Twitter.
And Horobin is not the only one of Harry’s exes to receive the jealous fan treatment. The baby-faced singer dated UK TV presenter, Caroline Flack, also 32, last year and received tweets that said “Die” and “I want you to die :)” leading British star to defend herself on Twitter, saying, “Hi One Direction fans! To clarify, I’m close friends with Harry... he’s one of the nicest people I know.
I don’t deserve death threats.”
When asked about online trolls – the term given to those who anonymously troll the internet making threats and writing provocative comments – Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo, branded them “horrifying”, but justified the anonymity that the site gives its users, insisting, “The reason we want to allow pseudonyms is there are lots of places in the world where it’s the only way you’d be able to speak freely.” Adding, “The flipside of that is it also emboldens these trolls. How do you make sure you are both emboldening people to speak politically, but making it OK to be on the platform and not endure all this hate speech? It’s very frustrating.”
And Harry’s One Direction bandmate, 18-year-old, Liam Payne’s girlfriend, 23-year-old dancer Danielle Peazer, has also been targeted, but hit back at the haters, saying, “To tweet someone telling them to ‘go die’ is disgusting. I don’t care if you hate me, but keep it to yourself rather than tweeting me.” Adding, “Hating me won’t make
him love you”.
‘Elvis would have been a victim too’
However these fans aren’t just a 21st-century creation. Girls who would have once stood in line at concerts to see their favourite heart-throbs and screamed at the stage door, now have a direct link to the stars through social networking sites, leading one Hollywood-watcher to observe, “If Elvis Presley’s fans had had Twitter, Priscilla may have gotten the same treatment.”
In the late nineties, British pop star, Day & Night singer Billie Piper, was also a victim of fan-girl fury when she was in a relationship with Ritchie Neville from British boy band 5ive. Piper was famously booed off stage at the age of 17 after being named Best Female Star at the 1999 Smash Hits Poll Winners’ Party at London’s Docklands Arena. “He was a heartthrob,” she said of the heart-breaking incident. “He has a lot of fans that were jealous and did not like me. They believed they were going to marry him.” Adding, “I have tried to ignore [the hate] mail even though many of them contained death threats.
One woman threatened to bury an axe in my head.” And the threats aren’t just constrained to women linked to classic boy bands, as Beatles’ drummer, Ringo Starr’s first wife, hairdresser, Maureen Starkey, has revealed, “I had to be careful of the fans. I might easily have been killed otherwise. Not being married was all part of [The Beatles’] image, and none of them were supposed to have steadies.”
Demi Lovato: Attacked twice
When Disney star-turned-X Factor judge Demi Lovato, started dating her Camp Rock co-star, Joe Jonas in March 2010, she immediately became the victim of online threats. The relationship was made public when a then 17-year-old Demi revealed all on TV show Access Hollywood and one fan responded by tweeting, “This isn’t happening. It can’t :( @joejonas @ddlovato it’s a lie right? You can’t date! Then I’ll have to kill Demi!” And the Skyscraper singer has recently been linked to Niall Horan, the member of One Direction who has proved most popular Stateside. But after the Jonas threats, Demi is denying that there’s anything going on.“We’ve actually become really close friends,” she said. “If I need someone to talk to, he’s there for me. But no, we’re not dating.” And the denial doesn’t come as a shock to insiders, who have said, “We aren’t surprised they want to keep their romance a secret. Any girl linked with the One Direction lads comes in for threats and abuse.”
The threats continue...
It’s not just love interests of the heartthrobs who get 140 character hate tweets from crazed fans…
John Legend’s model fiancée, Chrissy Teigen, received threatening tweets from Chris Brown fans when she commented that the singer was a better dancer than singer.
TWEET “All you do is talk ****, you need to be raped and murdered.”
Ricky Gervais received threatening messages from Justin Bieber fans after the singer was made the butt of one of the comedian’s jokes at the 2102 Golden Globes.
TWEET “Ricky Gervais. I hate you. I love Justin Bieber! Do not mess with Justin, I kill you.”
When Louise and Spencer from British reality show, Made In Chelsea, had an on-screen affair behind a friend’s back, fans took the relationship to heart, leading to Louisa receiving online abuse.
TWEET “Why are you alive! You cheat! Die!”
Miley Cyrus received online hate, simply for being Miley, which prompted her to respond, tweeting, “U have nothing better 2 do than hate? That saddens me. I’m surrounded by love I’m sorry 4 whatever happened 2 make u so bitter.”
TWEET “We want Miley the ***** dead! She’s a ******* ****!”
