Top 10 Manufactured Celebrity Feuds That Were Never Real

#10: Green Day & The Network

There’s no hype like self-generated hype. Punk band Green Day slammed a new wave band called The Network for spreading rumors about them. Notably, lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong accused the mysterious band of lying about being a Green Day side project. If there was beef, it didn’t last long. The Network actually opened for Green Day during a tour in the mid 2000s. But rumors persisted for years that this little spat was a piece of performance art, and that The Network was really just Green Day in masks. Also, the publishing information clearly cites the band’s members as writers on The Network’s albums. So, in effect, they were feuding with themselves.

#9: Coldplay & Crazy Frog

Getting to the coveted number one spot on the charts can take years of hard work and goodwill. Coldplay was poised to make a huge return in 2005. Their new single, “Speed of Sound,” was sure to hit the top of the UK charts. And then the unthinkable happened. A ringtone reworked from the “Beverly Hills Cop” theme robbed them of their expected number one spot. The artist, cited only as the Crazy Frog, was a novelty act that launched a sound that became an early internet meme. Reports covered the indignity of being beaten by a ringtone, but Coldplay frontman Chris Martin had fun responding to the so-called chart battle.

#8: Eminem & Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

Slim Shady was known for his aggressive antics, even at award shows. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a hand puppet who was exactly as his name describes, and who was voiced and puppeted by comedian Robert Smigel. So, when they had a brief, uncomfortable, and apparently unscripted moment at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards next to Moby, an artist Eminem was genuinely beefing with, it was bizarre. Eminem actually grabbed the puppet and closed its mouth. Smigel later said that it wasn’t a real fight, and more like something out of a professional wrestling show. Eminem would later include Triumph in a 2005 music video.

#7: Andy Kaufman & Jerry Lawler

The eccentric star of the classic sitcom “Taxi” was revered and reviled for his deep commitment to performance art. By design, we weren’t supposed to know the real Andy Kaufman. Some of his most famous moments involved wrestler Jerry Lawler. Before his WWE days, Lawler wrestled Kaufman in a highly publicized match that sent Kaufman to the hospital. These hostilities were put on display for the TV audience on an episode of “Late Night with David Letterman.” During their joint appearance, Lawler slaps Kaufman, who responds by throwing coffee on the wrestler. But years after Kaufman’s death, Lawler confessed that their longstanding feud was just a gag between the two. They were actually friends the whole time.

#6: Ariana Grande & Victoria Justice

It was the moment that launched a thousand memes. During a group interview with the cast of Nickelodeon’s “Victorious,” the cast joked about how Ariana Grande loved to sing. Victoria Justice’s somewhat cutting response that they all sing is still seen as evidence that the two are mortal enemies. Leaving aside the fact that the clip is often edited in a misleading way, the two insist the rumors that Justice was a bully on set are a media fabrication. A 2024 social media post of co-stars Justice and Elizabeth Gillies provoked a warm reaction from Grande, and it seems that whatever bad blood there was is now water under the bridge. But the meme is still a classic.

#5: Susan Sarandon & Julia Roberts

Hollywood can be cutthroat, but sometimes the actors just become collateral damage. In 1998, two of the decade’s most bankable leading ladies came together to make the tearjerker “Stepmom.” Reports that Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts butted heads on set were rampant. They fought those rumors even when the movie was released. But years later, while doing press for the aptly titled “Feud: Bette and Joan,” Sarandon revealed that the stories of the “Stepmom” feud were fiction. Not only that, they were fiction being peddled by her own PR person in an attempt to drum up cheap press, and she had no idea.

#4: Oasis & Blur

In 1995, the two hottest bands in British rock music clashed over who would win the Battle of Britpop. Releasing singles on the same day, the bands soon became enemies at war. Their apparent feud captured the public’s imagination. Each band became a symbol of class and regional pride within the UK. Their behavior at the Brit Awards helped fan the flames of their presumed tensions. While this one isn’t totally fake, it began with some heavily massaged media spin designed to sell newspapers and generate publicity for both acts. Years afterward, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher and Blur’s Damon Albarn have become friends and collaborators.

#3: Adele & Beyoncé

It may not have a lot of lore behind it, but this fictional feud launched what has become a perennial Wendy Williams meme. The origins seem to be tabloid stories from 2016 about Adele turning down the chance to collaborate with Beyoncé. Then the stories about Beyoncé’s alleged jealousy over Adele’s success with her third album, “25,” picked up traction. Even if we didn’t have proof of the pair’s long-standing public adoration of one another, neither rumor sounds particularly believable. Unfortunately, now we can’t stop dreaming about what an Adele-Beyoncé collaboration would even sound like.

#2: Britney Spears & Christina Aguilera

They both starred on “The Mickey Mouse Club,” kissed Madonna, and had a hand in some of the most beloved pop songs of the 2000s. By nature of the industry, it was almost inevitable that Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera would be constantly compared. The media started the fire, but stray and mostly inane comments about each other over the years have fanned the flames. Aguilera’s most damning comment came in 2004, when she compared Spears to “trailer trash.” As recently as 2021, Spears landed in hot water over what were considered body-shaming comments about her former co-star. Still, the two seem less like bitter enemies and more like estranged coworkers.

#1: Lady Gaga & Madonna

If we had a word for this alleged feud, it would be reductive. The “Express Yourself” singer made a casual yet shady comment about the similarities between her song and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.” To believe the press, it’s been a full-out war between the two ever since. It’s not the first time either pop diva has been rumored to be in a feud. Gaga and Katy Perry were allegedly feuding over releasing singles on the same day, while Madonna has spoken about the one-sided beef Elton John had with her for many years. But given their rather tame commentary and their continued compliments toward one another since, rumors of their feud have been greatly exaggerated.

Which of these feuds did you believe was a real thing? Tell us in the comments.