- Bieber, 26, released the first official episode of What’s in My Kitchen this week
- The show has been compared to Gomez’s HBO Max cooking series, Selena + Chef
- Critics accused Bieber of being “obsessed” with the singer and “copying” her.
Hailey Bieber is getting grilled by Selena Gomez fans after launching her new cooking show – almost three years after the singer debuted her own cooking series.
The Road founder, 26, has long faced accusations of ‘copying’ the Only Murders in the Building star, 30, and the scrutiny only intensified this week when she released first official episode of What’s in My Kitchen? on her YouTube channel.
Critics were quick to draw comparisons to Gomez’s HBO Max cooking series, Selena + Chef, which premiered in August 2020, calling Bieber’s latest project a “scam.”
“Hailey really needs to stop copying Selena and focus on herself,” one person tweeted, while another added: “She wants to be left alone but copies Selena all the time.”
However, in a statement shared with the Hollywood Reporter, Bieber called the What’s in My Kitchen? a “natural spin-off” of her series Who’s in My Bathroom, which stars Kendall Jenner, Gwyneth Paltrow and Emily Ratajkowski.
The first of six episodes was released on Wednesday and shows her preparing her “signature chicken wing recipe” in the home she shares with husband Justin Bieber.
Other recipes will include her homemade version of her $17 Erewhon “Strawberry Glaze” Smoothie and Pizza Toast. The skincare guru partnered with OBB Media to create the series, with HexClad sponsoring the project.
One Twitter user viciously posted that “HBO MAX doesn’t want her,” while others claimed Bieber was giving off “white woman only” vibes with the show.
“This girl is obsessed with Selena,” insisted someone else. “Watch the Selena + Chef Cook Show remake now.”
“Next she’s going to announce a mystery comedy show with Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld,” joked another, referring to Gomez’s Hulu series “Murder Only in the Building.”
“Actual title — ‘What’s in my kitchen, which I copied from Selena to make it relevant,'” chimed in one critic.
Even Bieber’s fans were skeptical about the show’s optics, given ongoing accusations that she was copying everything her husband’s ex-girlfriend did.
“Ok I didn’t even care about this beef she has with Selena but even I have to admit this is pretty weird,” one person tweeted.
“Okay, I love Haley, but this is such a bad move. She’s going to be dragging her feet a lot,” someone else noted.
Bieber started his YouTube channel in 2021 and now has more than two million subscribers. She has faced backlash for her cooking segments since soft-launching What’s in My Kitchen in December 2022.
“This is a show inspired by my love of food and trying out different recipes,” she explained in the description. “You’ve seen me make pizza toast, creamy Tuscan pasta, smoothies and more – and now I’m excited to take you even deeper into my real home kitchen to recreate some of these classics and venture into many more fun food adventures !’
Viewers pointed out the striking similarities between Gomez and Bieber’s shows, including their filming styles and scripts.
One Twitter user shared a video of Gomez performing on Selena + Chef, followed by footage from Bieber’s first segment on What’s in My Kitchen from last year.
“This is my real home. Everything we do is at home. This is my amazing kitchen, which is the set,” Gomez told viewers.
“Yes, we are actually in my real kitchen, in my real house. This is not a set. This is where I really live,” Bieber explained on his series.
“Noooo Selena should judge,” the person captioned the compilation clip. ‘This is crazy.’
However, Bieber isn’t the only celebrity to follow in Gomez’s culinary footsteps after she began filming her show during the pandemic.
In 2021, Brooklyn Beckham and Paris Hilton launched their own cooking shows, Cookin’ With Brooklyn and Cooking with Paris.
Fans have been pitting Gomez and Bieber against each other for years, and the latest attack on the model comes just weeks after they shut down rumors of their so-called feud.
In late March, Gomez used Instagram Stories to urge people to stop trolling and harassing Bieber, who had received death threats.
“Hailey Bieber contacted me and told me she’s been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity,” she wrote. “That’s not what I’m defending. No one should experience hatred or harassment. I have always stood for kindness and I really want this to stop.
Bieber thanked Gomez for speaking out on her own Instagram stories, sharing that they discussed how to “get this ongoing narrative over” with each other once and for all.
“The last few weeks have been very difficult for everyone involved and millions of people are seeing so much hate around this which is extremely damaging. While social media is an amazing way to connect and build community, moments like this only create extreme division instead of bringing people together,” she continued.
“Things can be taken out of context or interpreted differently than they were intended. We all need to be more careful about what we post and say, myself included.
“At the end of the day, I believe that love will always outweigh hate and negativity, and there is always an opportunity to meet with more empathy or compassion.”
Bieber and Gomez also started following each other on Instagram to boost their goodwill.