Selena Gomez And Benny Blanco Are Engaged — And The Internet ...

Actress Selena Gomez, left, and actor Benny Blanco during the first half of an NBA basketball game. ... [+] (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Yep, you read that right: Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco just announced they’re engaged. The pair are one of the most high profile couples in American pop culture, and that means one thing and one thing only: there are already a lot of memes about the engagement spreading across social media.

Yet all isn’t as rosy as it seems. The reaction to the news of the Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez engagement has a harsh edge, and is a prime example of the ownership many people online feel they have over celebrities.

Who Are Selena Gomez And Benny Blanco?

Selena Gomez is a singer and actor. She began her career appearing on Barney & Friends, but it was her leading role on Wizards of Waverly Place that propelled her to stardom.

Benny Blanco, on the other hand, is a recorder producer and songwriter, having worked with an array of artists, including Ed Sheeran, Eminem, and, yes, you guessed it, Selena Gomez.

How Has The Internet Reacted To The News Of Selena Gomez’s And Benny Blanco’s Engagement?

The online world reacted in the only way it could: with a deluge of memes. And many of them are less than flattering.

This tone of nastiness is a constant throughout many of the posts about the engagement announcement.

Here’s an example, using a popular Kevin James meme format to make fun of the assumed wealth disparity between the pair, despite the fact that Benny Blanco having written and produced a huge variety of popular songs, is undoubtedly wealthy.

There are also a range of posts and memes negatively commentating on Benny Blanco’s looks:

Continuing this spitefulness, the engagement of Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco is also being compared to that of Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber, mainly because Gomez and Bieber were a couple:

While celebrities such as Gordon Ramsey and Taylor Swift reacted positively to the news of the Blanco and Gomez engagement, much of the internet’s reaction seems darker and more cynical. Why does this appear to be the case?

Why The Internet Is Negative About The Selena Gomez’s And Benny Blanco’s Engagement?

The nature of social media makes it easy to think that we know people we see online, despite them being broadly unaware of us.

This trend is known as forming a parasocial relationship. This is a one-way friendship that many individuals feel they have with celebrities. Because they engage with their posts and get regular updates, it begins to feel as though people online actually know a public figure, despite this not being the case in reality.

Selena Gomez in particular is hugely famous on social media, having become the most-followed woman on Instagram several times.

This level of fame can give posters the feeling that they should have some say over Gomez’s life and are able to offer their advice and views on her actions — something that has caused her to breaks from online life.

Furthermore, because of the reach of social media, people in these parasocial relationships are able to spread their opinions far and wide.

With extreme posts getting more likes on average than balanced ones, this creates an environment where people online feel they can comment on someone else’s life, and are rewarded with positive interaction when they post something negative.

Ultimately, Selena Gomez’s And Benny Blanco’s engagement is no one else’s business but theirs, yet the very nature of the internet and the parasocial bonds many form with celebrities, makes people feel they have a license to be unkind, which we’re seeing play out in full time with the memes and reactions to the news.

This, sadly, is the reality of being a public figure online in the internet age. Hopefully, Blanco and Gomez know to avoid the comments section.