Feud or fun? Either way, Justin Bieber is not having it.
Even though the Canadian pop star, 25, last month revealed that he's taking a break from making music to focus on his mental health, he's not willing to give up his crown as the music world's "Prince of pop."
When fellow Canadian music star Shawn Mendes, 20, was christened the "Prince of pop" on the April 7 cover of The Guardian's Observer Magazine, Justin made it clear that he's not accepting that.
After Shawn — who dated the Biebs' now-wife, Hailey Baldwin, not long before she and Justin got back together and married in 2018 — posted the magazine cover on his Instagram account on April 7 with a thank you to the outlet, Justin got busy in the comments section to make it clear that he doesn't think Shawn is pop royalty… yet.
"Hmm Gonna have to break a few more records to dethrone my title there bud (canadian voice)..but if you want we can play hockey for it but i heard your a real bender on the ice we could just drop the buckets and tilt for it," Justin wrote.
A day later, Justin's comment had racked up more than 33,000 likes and more than 5,000 replies (more than 2.6 million accounts liked Shawn's cover post, by the way). Many fans were unimpressed with Justin's note, though some Justin stans insisted the Biebs was right.
"Shut up jealous trash!" wrote one Shawn defender. "You have the wife, he has the success," added another, while yet another wrote, "How old are u? 5?" Some Justin supporters chimed in with comments like, "The king has spoken," and "Absolutely true! you will surely have to break some records if you want to be called the pop prince, because there is only one ^^ @justinbieber."
Justin clearly read what fans were writing, as he soon returned to Shawn's Instagram account to clear things up and let people know that this was not the start of some catty feud, as captured by the Instagram site Comments By Celebs.
"There is no competition and it was a playful joke people relax.. there's no sides we're all just here to make dope music. I'm just competitive as is he so it was just a little playful jargon," Justin explained.
Shawn also weighed in on Justin's comments — and he kept it classy. "LOL any time any day you just let me know!!!!!!" he responded to the hockey portion of the Biebs' comments.