Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. Shutterstock (2)
A shady favor? Justin Bieber has been accused of handing out a gift at his birthday party that doubles a serious dig at ex Selena Gomez.
The “Yummy” singer — who turned 29 on Wednesday, March 1, and celebrated his birthday over the weekend — handed out silver lighters at the festivities that were engraved with a cryptic quote.
“I’m so thankful that I didn’t end up with what I thought I wanted,” the metal lighters read, as seen in a photo shared by Bieber’s close friend and music video director Alfredo Flores via social media.
Fans immediately began theorizing that the etching was about Gomez — and felt that it inadvertently slammed Justin’s wife, Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin), in the process.
“Admitting that your wife was your second choice on your birthday is crazy lmao selena truly lives in his mind rent free,” one Twitter user wrote. “@justinbieber hitting an all time low on his 29th birthday. Getting pettier every year,” another person penned.
Still, others felt that the sentiment was positive — or that it held a different meaning.
“Can’t believe people are interpreting this negatively. justin is saying he’s grateful for the life he has as is,” said one fan. “Or he could be talking about something else or his mental health. be fr. its been 10 years. let it go,” commented another user.
The Grammy winner has been married to Hailey since 2018, but continues to be involved with drama surrounding the Only Murders in the Building star, 30, even five years after splitting for good following years of on-and-off relationship woes.
Gomez and Hailey, 26, raised eyebrows late last month when they appeared to be feuding via social media.
After the model and pal Kylie Jenner were accused by fans of making fun of the Golden Globe nominee’s eyebrows via social media, the Kardashians star, 25, denied the rumors via TikTok on February 23. “No shade towards selena ever,” Jenner clarified at the time, which Gomez acknowledged. “Agreed @kyliejenner It’s all unnecessary,” she replied to the Kylie Cosmetics mogul’s comment. “I’m a fan of Kylie!”
Hours later, however, the “Wolves” songstress didn’t hold back when commenting on a resurfaced video of Hailey gagging at the mention of Taylor Swift.
“So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game,” the Disney Channel alum wrote in response.
In addition to seemingly tossing his own hat in the ring amid the controversy, Justin also made a surprise appearance at the Rolling Loud music festival in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 5 — days after he seemingly canceled his remaining Justice World tour dates.
The “Sorry” artist joined “Private Landing” collaborator Don Toliver on stage to perform their new track for the cheering crowd. Less than a week prior, eagle-eyed fans noticed that Ticketmaster marked all of Justin’s upcoming concerts in the U.S., Ireland, France, Poland, Australia, Denmark and the Czech Republic as canceled.
Though Justin and his team have yet to comment on the seemingly canceled dates, the “Ghost” singer announced in June 2022 that he would be postponing the tour amid his diagnosis with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which can cause temporary facial paralysis.
“This is pretty serious as you can see. I wish this wasn’t the case. But obviously, my body is telling me I need to slow down,” Justin shared in the Instagram video at the time, showing off the lack of movement in half of his face.
Sign up for Us Weekly’s free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!
“[He] has every faith this will resolve itself eventually, but of course, it’s a stressful situation to be dealing with and a tough time for both [him and Hailey] right now,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time of Justin’s diagnosis. “The last thing he wanted was to postpone the concerts.”