Justin Bieber, had unfollowed and blocked him.
Internet sleuths took note of Bieber’s social media activity on Jan. 5, deducing that both the pop star and his wife, Hailey Bieber, had unfollowed and blocked his former manager by trawling through their social media pages. Hours later, onlookers noticed Braun — who started managing a then-teen Bieber after discovering him on YouTube in 2008 — had scrubbed his Instagram page altogether, fueling speculation that the noted riff between the pair has worsened. For context, rumors of a rocky relationship between Braun and Bieber first emerged in early-2023.
At the time, it was reported that the “Baby” singer was “actively looking at how to extract himself” from his contract with Braun, despite the deal between the pair not expiring until 2027. Then, in June of last year, Braun announced his retirement from managing altogether, following a string of headlines about artists — leaving their contracts with him. “Justin and Ariana were both young teenagers when I began with them,” Braun wrote in an Instagram post announcing his retirement. “As we change our working relationships now, I will continue to root for them with the same ion that I did at each of their humble beginnings.”
As for the cause of the tension that resulted in Bieber’s recent unfollowing… well, there’s been multiple reported tiffs over the years. While he defended Braun in 2019 amid his controversial feud with Taylor Swift, their relationship appeared to sour by 2023, amid Billboard’s bombshell expose into Braun’s treatment of various artists under his management.
At that time, engaged in a much-publicized beef over the handling of the singer’s master recordings, making the music mogul enemy number one among Swift’s notoriously ionate fanbase.
“So now he knows Taylor was right?,” one wrote in response to Bieber’s unfollowing, with another adding that “Taylor Swift is smiling wherever she is.” Others shared some lyrics of the Swift song “long story short” as a cryptic clap back to Braun, or replied simply with that iconic GIF of the singer nonchalantly drinking champagne. It comes amid a flurry of other headlines surrounding Bieber in recent months. Last week, fans speculated that were thinking of having more children.
Elsewhere, onlookers Braun again caught the ire of the Swifties in November after he congratulated Grande for her scene-stealing role in Wicked.
Published: Jan 5, 2025 11:33 pm