Scamfluencers - Wondery Presents: Diss and Tell

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

Savage subtweets. Scathing diss tracks. Tell-all memoirs. These are the weapons that celebrities use to wage modern social warfare against each other. Feuds between celebrities captivate us like nothing else. Why are there so many fights that play out for everyone to watch? How do public figures tap into the arsenal of weapons at their disposal to come out on top? And why do we have such a hard time looking away?From Wondery, the makers of the hit series Scamfluencers and Even the Rich, comes Diss and Tell. Hosts Sydney Battle and Matt Bellassai take you deep into pop culture’s most iconic celebrity feuds, from Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan to Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez. Sydney and Matt unpack who fired the first shot, what happened, and how cultural phenomena and hidden forces influence not only these battles, but also the world we live in. Listen to Diss and Tell: Wondery.fm/Diss_and_TellSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With celebrity beef, you never know if you're just going to end up on TMZ, trending on Twitter, or in court. Wondry's new podcast, Dis Antel, is hosted by comedian Sidney Battle and Matt Bellasai. In each episode, explores a different iconic celebrity feud, from the build-up, why it happened, and the repercussions. What do our obsession with these feuds say about us? The first season is packed with a pretty messy love triangle between Selena Gomez and Justin and Haley Bieber, a seemingly innocent TikTok of Selena talking about her laminated eyebrows, snowballed into a full-blown alleged feud. The internet wants to pit the two women against each other, but if you cut through the layers of PR spin, you'll find this is a conflict about three people

who've been pushed into stardom since they were children. But it doesn't seem like fans are letting up anytime soon, despite both Selena and the Bieber's making public statements denying any bad blood. How much of this is Teen Jellys' and 20-something lovers quarreling, and how much of it is a carefully calculated narrative designed to sell albums? You're about to hear a preview of Distan Tell. While you're listening, follow Distanentel wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, Sydney. So I was scrolling through TikTok as I do every day for hours at a time. No judgment. I fell down this rabbit hole. I mean, that is sort of what TikTok does to you, right? Like you watch one video and then suddenly it's every video is just some version of that video.

I am deeply terrified of the TikTok vortex. You should be. What rabbit hole was it in particular? So I was scrolling and there is this avalanche of fan theories and conspiracy videos about the latest beef Between Haley Bieber and Selena Gomez. Oh goodness. I'm getting the feeling that this is going to be Absolutely wild. That would be the correct feeling. It is wild Haley Bieber just blatantly copied Selena Gomez again. Okay, so I think I've made Hailey Bieber very upset. Hailey is obsessed with Selena and Selena already knows and I'm going to tell you how I know this. Does anyone else feel like they're going insane over this Hailey Selena drama? TikTok takes it to an extreme, but underneath it all, there's a real feud happening here. Okay.

And it started ironically enough with this seemingly innocent TikTok video of Selena Gomez talking about her laminated eyebrows going wrong. Okay. And it just snowballed into this full-blown alleged feud, I should say. A ledge doing a lot of work there. It all led to Haley Bieber losing over half a million followers and getting death threats! Oh my god! Hard to tell what's worse. Losing half a million followers or death threats. We really can't say.

It's been a wild, wild ride. I think I'm ready for it. Me too. We're gonna unpack all of it. From Wundery, I'm Matt Bellasai. And I'm Sydney Battle. And this is Dish and Tell. This is a story about a three-way feud, the one between Selena Gomez and Justin and Haley Bieber. No surprise, but lots of people online want to make it about just the two women.

And yeah, the two women are definitely not like totally innocent of stirring the pop from time to time and sort of riding the fame wave that it has gotten them, but what's so interesting here is like these are three people who have been pushed into stardom since they were children. This whole story is one where we are kind of, what is real, and what is PR spin? If we knew the answer to that question, it might just save the collective sanity of millions of super fans, myself included, and it would probably bring some resolution to the notion of who is the real villain in this story? This is Selena Gomez and Justin and Haley Bieber. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Dis Antel

add free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.