Justin Bieber has waded into the furore between his longtime manager Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift, who blasted Braun for his "manipulative bullying".
She wrote a statement on Tumblr about Braun in response to his company's recent acquisition of Big Machine Records, which holds the rights to all six of Swift's multi-platinum albums.
It came accompanied with a photo of Justin Bieber video chatting with Scooter Braun among others, making fun of Swift during the time she was feuding with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
Bieber took to Instagram to apologise for posting the "hurtful" photo saying, "at the time I thought it was funny, but looking back it was distasteful and insensitive."
However he then went on to accuse Swift of playing up the situation for sympathy saying: "Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you!"
He continued: "As the years have passed we haven't crossed paths and gotten to communicate our differences, hurts or frustrations. So for you to take it to social media and get people to hate on Scooter isn't fair. What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog? Seems to me like it was to get sympathy. You also knew that in posting that your fans would go and bully Scooter.
"Anyway, One thing I know is both Scooter and I love you. I feel like the only way to resolve conflict is through communication. So banter back and fourth online I don't believe solves anything.
"I'm sure Scooter and I would love to talk to you and resolve any conflict, pain or any feelings that need to be addressed. Neither Scooter or I have anything negative to say about you, we truly want the best for you. I usually don't [rebut] things like this but when you try and deface someone I love's character, that's crossing a line.."
Bieber was right about one thing; Swift's fans are rallying online with the hashtag "We Stand With Taylor" trending on Twitter.
A few of her famous friends have also come to her defence online, including model and actor Cara Delevingne who replied to Bieber's post with a comment which he then deleted, prompting her to post a screenshot of it on her account.
She wrote: "I wish you spent less time sticking up for men and more time trying to understand women and respecting their valid reactions.
"You should be lifting women up instead of tearing them down because you are threatened. I am not sure you actually understand what an apology is... As you said, you haven't spoken to her in years which means you definitely don't understand the situation. I do. Take a step back and try and learn from this. We should all be on the same team. End of story."
She also added a note to the screenshot saying, "Love you @TaylorSwift!"