Battle of the exes: Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber thrash each other over Sofia

Mumbai: Justin Bieber seems to be head over heels crushing on latest armcandy Sofia Richie. The ‘Mistletoe’ singer took to Instagram to post a flurry of pictures with her but wasn’t really prepared for the backlash.

After being at the receiving end of abuses from a few fans, he threatened to make his Instagram account private.

"I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand," he captioned his final post, agitatedly.

"If you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like", he added.

But little did he know that former flame Selena Gomez would see that as an opportunity at the much celebrated singer!

Selena commented below the said picture asking him to stop posting photos of his girlfriend if he wasn’t cool with being rebuked by fans.

"If you can't handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol - it should be special between you two only”, she commented.

”Don't be mad at your fans. They love you and supported you before any one ever did", she added.

But after Selena's comment, Justin retorted with a not so subtle message implying that the Selena had used him to become famous.

"It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love," he hit back.

He went on to post another comment, clarifying, "I'm not one for anyone receiving hate. Hope u all can be kind to my friends and each other. And yes I love my Believers."

Selena shot back and wrote, "Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times, are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive, no wonder fans are mad. Sad. All love."

The proceedings were way too hilarious, albeit unintentionally, for the internet to have not taken notice of. Predictably enough, their interaction has broken the internet.

Justin had been in Japan for the weekend with model Sofia on his Purpose World Tour.

Sofia incidentally is Nicole Richie's half-sister, singer Lionel Richie's daughter and she's also friends with the likes of Kylie Jenner to Bella Hadid.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez had a rocky relationship from 2011 until they finally split up for good in 2014, although they have been spotted and photographed together several times post the much publicised break-up.

After Selena's fans took the trolling a tad further by commenting on Justin's posts with the hashtag #TeamSelena, Selena posted a pic generically thanking her fans for their love and affection.

Coincidence? We think not.