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Billie Eilish: Fans defend singer as trolls attack 'homophobic' beau Matthew Tyler Vorce

'Yes, the age gap is questionable, but y’all still need to mind your own damn business,' said a user about Billie Eilish's boyfriend Matthew Tyler Vorce

In a whirlwind Twitter controversy, after Billie Eilish was vehemently criticized for dating a much older boyfriend who's allegedly racist and homophobic too, people are now criticizing those who slammed Eilish for her relationship with Matthew Tyler Vorce. In short, people are rushing to defend the 19-year-old singer in the wake of queerbaiting controversy and widespread hate against her newly outed relationship.

On June 3, Eilish drew major backlash on social media for her music video, 'Lost Cause' where she and a group of women can be seen having fun in a plush mansion, clad in nothing by pajamas, often exploding into PDA with each other. Twitter buzzed with accusations of queerbaiting against the Grammy winner, but that wasn't the end of it. Buy the weekend of June 13, photos of Eilish and her rumored-turned-confirmed beau Matthew Tyler Vorce became public. The couple were seen at Disneyland, and all hell broke loose on Twitter.

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The problem Twitter had wasn't just with the 30-year-old actor being over 10 years older to Eilish. Many had been able to unearth old Facebook posts of Eilish's actor-beau dating back to a decade ago, where he openly used the n-word, homophobic slurs and even fat-shamed singer Adele, comparing her to the cartoon character Miss Piggy. This prompted users to tweet at Eilish, demanding: "@billieeilish hey girlie! u need u to remove that “BLM” for me. ur dating a racist which means u aren’t opposed to the idea of racism being in ur life. also! he’s nearly 30 its a little weird to be dating him as ur freshly legal."

The downpour of hate was intense with many commenting under Eilish's older Instagram posts asking her to "do better". Explaining that Twitter had far moved on from just the queerbaiting narrative, one user explained: "i honestly don't think ppl r cancelling billie eilish bcuz she's "queer-baiting" which i think is stupid y'all can't assume her sexuality then get mad when she says she's st8, i think that ppl r mad @ her cuz she's dating a homophobic, racist, misogynistic 29 yr old."

But amidst the rampant social media hate, people defending Eilish are also starting to emerge. Once the hate gained traction, Twitter users jumped on the platform to criticize those slamming Eilish for having poor taste in men. "Gen Z talk about their terrible choices on a daily basis but then turn against Billie Eilish for what, having a douchey boyfriend? We've all been there. Let her live, she'll figure it all out," wrote one user. Another claimed: "people were just hungry for a reason to start the Billie Eilish hate train." Soon a debate broke out over why Eilish dating someone who uses slurs is problematic, to which others disagreed. One asked: "so y’all aren’t gonna let Billie Eilish potentially having a 30 year old boyfriend slide just cause it’s Billie Eilish right?"

With several users continuing to drag Eilish for queerbaiting, one user defended the singer accusing haters of biphobia. "Billie Eilish didn’t queerbait y’all just are actually way too inappropriately obsessed with the sexuality of celebrities. And she’s not allowed to have a boyfriend and love girls at the same time? I smell the biphobia in the air again," they wrote. Another chimed in: "No why are ppl saying billie eilish is queer baiting? Because she has a boyfriend? Like bi sexual girls dont exist and have boyfriends but still feel attracted to the other gender? Just be biphobic elsewhere pls."

Another user went on a two-tweet explanation, urging users to be more accepting of Eilish. And minding their own business too, of course. "I wish my fellow Gen Z’ers would do productive stuff & talk about real issues rather than get outraged over nothing. I don’t think Billie was queerbaiting in this case. She just posted herself having fun with her friends with a funny caption & people read way too much into it," wrote the user, further adding: "Not only is there currently outrage over that post, but some of Billie Eilish’s fans are also digging up dirt on her alleged new boyfriend & trying to get him cancelled over super old posts. Yes, the age gap is questionable, but y’all still need to mind your own damn business."