celebrity

YouTubers, Wagatha Christie and all the reality TV drama: The most awkward celebrity feuds of 2019.

 

Everybody loves a celebrity feud. Even if you pretend you don’t, you do a little.

There’s no shame in it (okay, maybe there is a little shame). It’s just genuinely fun to sit back and watch rich, famous people fight.

This year saw some damn good feuds, spanning so many levels of fame that there's really something for everyone. We had an actual superstar call out Justin Bieber's manager, we learned our favourite TV actresses were probably not friends after all and we met many reality TV stars, who kept us interested in their lives by... fighting with each other.

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Plus, Australia's national carrier got in on the action.

Here's a list of 2019's greatest feuds:

Qantas vs The Veronicas.

The Veronicas kicked off Qantas flight
Image: Getty.

Twin sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso, better known as singing duo The Veronicas, were removed from a Sydney plane in September and we all cared far more than we should.

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The sisters were asked to leave Qantas QF516, which was bound for Brisbane, amid a disagreement with cabin crew. Qantas said two passengers refused to follow the cabin crew’s instructions and were “offloaded” before the plane took off.

The Australian Federal Police told AAP officers came on board amid an argument between the two passengers and staff before the women agreed to disembark, with no further issues.

According to Qantas, cabin crew gave instruction about bags and shifting their luggage in the overhead storage compartment. Company protocol is that cabin crew cannot manage passenger baggage, so crew advised the pair to seek assistance from another passenger if they were unable to reach their bags.

According to the airline, that’s when they allegedly started getting argumentative before videoing the crew involved.

The Veronicas, who said the incident was “incredibly intimidating and confusing”, disputed Qantas' version of events.

"The details reported are false and in conflict with video recorded during the event and witness accounts from the flight," they said on Instagram.

"The incident was escalated without explanation why from the cabin staff. We co-operated with all requests from authorities and exited the aircraft."

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They later shared another post to their (now deleted) Twitter account with a series of statements and claims made my fellow passengers.

On November 4, the week before their reality show began on Foxtel, Jess told news.com.au Qantas was refusing to meet with them about the incident, adding that the pair want to show the video they filmed on board the plane which reveals “the truth” of what happened.

"Jess filmed it so we could take it to Qantas to review it so they could get the full story of what happened, obviously they’ve denied seeing it or wanting to meet with us, so we’re like what do we do with it?

"We’re only protecting Qantas by not showing the truth so we are considering putting it on the show."

Following the incident, the twins said they were getting legal advice.

Debra Messing vs Megan Mullally.

NBC's "Will & Grace" FYC Event - Arrivals
Megan Mullally, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing and Sean Hayes. Image: Kevin Winter/Getty.
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This was the feud that upset us the most.

After 11 seasons and 233 episodes, one of our comfort shows, Will & Grace, has hit a snag.

It appears two of the main characters had a falling out this year, and that’s why the show we all watch during a breakup/after a stressful day/while we’re chatting to our friends on messenger/scrolling on Insta/cooking dinner is coming to an end (for good this time).

In August, we discovered that Messing and Mullally, who play Grace Adler and Karen Walker on the show, had been dropping some big fat hints of a bubbling feud.

They unfollowed each other on Instagram and then Mullally posted a cryptic message in a now deleted Instagram post.

“One of the best feelings is finally losing your attachment to somebody who isn’t good for you,” she wrote.

She followed up with another post that read, “Don’t ask people for directions if they’ve never been where you’re going”.

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Oh. :(

Messing, on the other hand, uploaded a photo a few weeks ago urging fans to vote for Will & Grace at the Emmys but didn’t tag Mullally in it.

She literally tagged everyone except Mullally including the series director and the co-creator.

Kochie vs Martha.

mafs martha kochie
Images: Twitter/YouTube.

This one was really weird.

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It all started on the Logies red carpet in late June, when Martha from MAFS allegedly elbowed Kochie aggressively in the ribs.

Regardless of the existence and/or extent of Martha’s elbowing, Kochie escalated the feud by sharing his version of events on national television, with his friends Samantha Armytage and Natalie Barr.

On the Monday morning following the event, the Sunrise cast were reflecting on Logies night when Kochie said: “I’ve still got bruises in the ribs from the Married at First Sight woman who elbowed me on the way through.”

They then made some jokes about 15 minutes of fame and had a good lol.

Look, the feud probably could've ended right then and there. But no.

With a 17 minute video titled 'THE TRUTH ABOUT THE LOGIES', Martha and Kochie momentarily became the James Charles and Tati Westbrook (more on them later) of Australia's TV world. Minus the rival supplement brands. And the level of fame. And a great majority of the controversy. But still.

In the YouTube video, both Martha and her partner Michael Brunelli raised their frustrations with the multiple media reports about what occurred at the Logies.

Martha and Michael discussed how unfair it was to put an allegation of elbowing out on TV without discussing it in person. "It becomes really childish," Michael said.

Throughout the week, Kochie and co-host Sam Armytage both made comments to various media outlets, with Kochie telling the Daily Mail "All I'll apologise for is putting myself in a dangerous position between her and a photographer".

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Then days later Martha uploaded another video titled "My Final Say to Kochie and Sunrise".

"He just thinks that because I was on a reality TV show and am a reality TV star that I don’t deserve to get an apology for him. Perhaps that I’m beneath him," Martha said.

"I’m a person and I have feelings and Sam and Koch have caused me so much stress and anxiety these past few days and I just feel like it’s so unnecessary, like for what, for ratings?"

True to her word, it was her final say. And thank goodness, we were getting a little tired tbh.

Coleen Rooney vs Rebekah Vardy.

The feud that broke the internet and 100% the best news story of 2019.

rebekah vardy instagram
Images: Getty.
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In October, Coleen Rooney (author/TV personality and wife of former England captain Wayne Rooney) posted a lengthy social media post outing former friend and fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy (nightclub promoter and wife of English and Leicester player Jamie Vardy) for leaking stories about her to the media.

Coleen described the lengths she went to to find the culprit: "I blocked everyone from viewing my Instagram stories except ONE account. Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into the Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did!"

At the end of the lengthy post she revealed the name: "It's... Rebekah Vardy's account," wrote Coleen.

Cue: frenzy.

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Rebekah quickly responded via social media, denying the claims completely, but then other WAGs came out on Coleen's side.

This story was so big in the UK that when it dropped, Rebekah’s name was being searched more than Brexit. BREXIT.

Plus, the feud coined the phrase 'Wagatha Christie' and that was everything.

The MAFS cast vs The MAFS cast.

Image: Nine.
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The 2019 Married At First Sight cast has had so many internal feuds we honestly can't keep up.

On the show there were feuds involving face mask fighting, wine pouring and the throwing of fruit bowls.

Then, after the season finished in April, the feuds continued in the form of passive aggressive social media posts, straight up aggressive social media posts and many, many Daily Mail articles.

Take even one member of the cast and they would've been involved in at least one feud, or look at Jessika Power, Cyrell Paule or Martha Kalifatidis who have at one stage or another fallen out with... everyone.

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Even past favourites Cam and Jules, who recently got married for real, having been able to come away unscathed. A few of their fellow cast members have shaded them for selling their wedding rights to media, and Jules' former pal Mel Lucarelli was not happy about being cut from the bridal party.

With a new season of MAFS starting early next year, we can definitely count on even more feuding.

Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun.

(And Scott Borchetta)

taylor swift scooter braun drama
Scooter Braun owns Taylor Swift's masters, and is allegedly blocking her from performing her own music. Images: Getty.
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In June, Taylor Swift announced that she had learned her long-time manager Scott Borchetta, who she parted ways with in 2018 after 12 years, sold his label Big Machine Records to Scooter Braun, the controversial manager of Justin Bieber and she was very unhappy about it.

Borchetta owned the rights to her music, which means Braun now stands to make millions off of Swift’s past releases.

This was especially problematic to her due to what she described as the “incessant, manipulative bullying” she had dealt with from Braun for years.

Taylor later confirmed she intended to re-record her first six albums from November 2020, presumably after the expiration of her contracts, thus taking back control of her masters.

Taylor Swift at the AMAs, with the names of her past albums, owned by Red Machine Records, on her shirt. Image: Getty.
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Battle lines were drawn and celebrities were quick to make their sides clear, but after a while it all died down.

Until November, when Swift posted an uncharacteristically vulnerable message: "Don't know what else to do," she wrote across her social media, along with a series of screenshots of a long, desperate note she'd written on her phone.

"Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I’m not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be re-recording my music before I’m allowed to next year," she wrote, claiming they were blocking her from performing her hits when she was honoured with the Artist of the Decade award at November's American Music Awards.

She also said that while working with Netflix on a documentary, Brain and Borchetta have refused them access to her older music and performance footage.

Braun and Borchetta issued a statement in response, but Swift's camp then put out another statement, pointing out that they hadn't actually provided any proof her claims were wrong.

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Swift was able to perform a medley of her hits at the award show and her Netflix documentary has been announced for January.

At the heart of this war is the issue of an artists’ rights to their music, but it’s been well and truly overshadowed by a game of celebrity he-said, she-said. This is most likely not over.

Jordyn Woods vs The Kardashians.

Um, this happened in FEBRUARY. Can you believe that? Granted, it was dragged on for about six months because of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and the family's marketing machine, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

jordyn-woods
Images: Instagram.
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Basically, Kylie Jenner's ex best friend and former Kardashian inner circle member Jordyn Woods hooked up with Khloe Kardashian's partner and baby daddy Tristan Thompson at a party on 17 February.

And it BLEW UP.

Khloe posted deep quotes to her social media accounts. Kylie discounted the makeup products she'd made in collaboration with Jordyn. Jordyn appeared on Jada Pinkett Smith's Red Table Talk and finally, we watched how it all went down from the Kardashians side on KUWTK.

James Charles vs. Tati Westbrook.

Did we know people named James Charles and Tati Westbrook existed before May 2019? No.

Actually, did we know anything about 'beauty YouTube' at all before this feud? No.

But that's not the point.

Images: YouTube.
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This feud began when YouTuber Tati Westbrook published a 43-minute (now deleted) video that attracted almost 30 million views in just days.

In the down-the-barrel video, titled “Bye Sister”, Westbrook unleashed on James Charles and explained all the reasons she had ended her friendship with the fellow YouTuber.

She started with the fact Charles publicly endorsed a vitamin company, Sleep Vitamins by SugarBearHair, which is a direct competitor of her own beauty brand, Halo Beauty. Mmhm.

Although he publicly apologised at the time to Tati, saying "she has been like a mother to me since my first days in this industry," the beauty guru explained that it was the complete lack of support from her former friend which hurt her the most.

"Fame, power and a fat bank account will change almost anyone," the 37-year-old said of Charles.

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"How entitled do you have to be to think that you have it rough? You are a 19-year-old millionaire," Tati, who has nearly eight million subscribers herself, added.

She said she felt "used" when he didn't return the support she had shown him throughout his entire career so far, and also shared allegations that Charles had used his propensity to try to trick "straight men into thinking they're gay".

Singer Zara Larsson, 21, posted to Twitter that the influencer had tried to reach out to her boyfriend a number of times, despite being aware that he is a straight man and prolific beauty blogger Jeffree Star then weighed in with a since-deleted tweet in which he called Charles a “danger to society.”

Charles initially responded in his own YouTube video and for almost two weeks, we couldn't look away.

Then, Tati and James each released a final tweet to their followers, putting an end to it all.

Tati said she had been in contact with James, and both had decided to "put this matter to rest in the interest of their community, their followers and their own mental health" and that was that.

WHAT A YEAR.

What celebrity feuds will 2020 have in store? What niche YouTube community will bring the goods? Will we see more flying fruit bowls? We can't wait to find out.