Justin Bieber axes Instagram amid war with Selena Gomez fans
The Associated Press | Posted: August 16, 2016 2:08 PM | Last Updated: August 16, 2016
Sofia Richie defends Canadian pop singer
Justin Bieber has gone nuclear in his war with fans of ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez by deleting his Instagram account.
Bieber and new friend Sofia Richie posted several pictures of themselves together over the weekend.
He responded to negative comments by captioning one photo, "I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like."
By Tuesday morning, his Instagram account was gone.
His threat had sparked a heated back and forth with former girlfriend Gomez in his Instagram comments section.
Though the comments were deleted, fans posted screengrabs online.
"What I said was selfish and pointless," Gomez later posted over a blank screen via her Snapchat account.
Bieber hasn't commented.
However, Richie posted via Twitter Monday that "Justin is not shutting out his beliebers. He's thankful everyday for y'all, y'all got him here.. He doesn't forget that.. Period."
Richie is the daughter of singer Lionel Richie and is the sister of former reality star Nicole Richie.