In one of the most random celebrity feuds ever, comedian Chris Rock took aim at pop princess Selena Gomez back in 2016 by mocking her music tour and even comparing her unfavorably to Beyoncé. The bizarre feud caused a major backlash against Rock at the time from Gomez’s loyal fans.
Chris Rock Once Mocked Selena Gomez as a “Craigslist Beyoncé”
According to The Things, in June 2016, at the height of Gomez’s Revival world tour, Chris Rock posted a meme on Twitter making fun of the singer’s live shows. It featured a photo of Selena rocking a golden dress on stage, with a caption that read “When you buy your Formation tickets on Craigslist.” The meme was a direct mockery of Gomez as a cheap knockoff version of Beyoncé, whose own Formation stadium tour was a massive success that year.
As if directly comparing Selena Gomez to music royalty wasn’t enough, Rock doubled down by adding his own tweet: “This is true.”
How did Selena Gomez fans react to Chris Rock’s insult?
The blatant disrespect from Rock quickly incurred the wrath of Selena’s protective fanbase called the Selenators. Many rushed to defend the young pop star’s touring efforts and slam the veteran comedian for essentially cyberbullying her.
The feud brought more eyeballs to Gomez’s tour but also highlighted her health struggles with lupus, which eventually forced her to cancel the remaining tour dates. But Chris Rock was undeterred and posted the insulting meme again with the words “In Case You Missed It, this is true.”
Selena has faced her share of odd Hollywood feuds beyond Chris Rock over the years. She’s had public tension with Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Hailey Baldwin, Madison Beer, The Weeknd, and more young stars. Gomez even called out the iconic fashion designer Stefano Gabbana for making fun of her Met Gala look. So while Rock’s Beyoncé-shaming stands out as particularly mean-spirited, Selena’s no stranger to celebrity showdowns thanks to her massive fame.
Did Chris Rock mock Selena Gomez to her face years before the feud?
While the one-sided Twitter feud was random enough on its own, many were shocked to learn this wasn’t even the first time Rock took a strange shot at Gomez. Flashback to 2010 at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, a fresh-faced 18-year-old Gomez met Rock and his daughters on the red carpet.
In what seemed like a pleasant interaction at first, Rock told Gomez “You look great. That outfit is so you, such a representation of who you are, and not someone else.”
But in hindsight, it was clearly a backhanded compliment implying she lacks originality. Rock then quoted Beyonce’s Single Ladies to further mock her as a cheap imitation of the iconic singer right to her face!
So Chris Rock bizarrely fixated on Selena Gomez’s image and insulted her uniqueness as a pop artist years before outright calling her a knockoff Beyoncé online. Though Gomez never responded to Rock’s repeated jabs, the unusual feud remains one of the oddest celebrity showdowns caused by a random man’s fixation on dragging down a far more successful young female pop star.
