Seems like Zach Bryan isn’t a fan of the mainstream media.
Of course that’s not surprising. Zach’s a guy who’s been under a microscope since his career took off, with his meteoric rise only putting more pressure and scrutiny on the superstar.
And it’s also something he’s seemingly been aware of from the very beginning. Zach has often taken to social media to respond to his critics, or just deleted his social media altogether. (He’s currently not on Twitter after deactivating his account earlier this year).
Earlier this month, a New Jersey newspaper, the New Jersey Star-Ledger, posted a critical review of his show in Newark, calling it “two hours of flubs and stumbles,” and questioning whether it was just an “off night” for Zach or whether he’s not actually ready for the arenas that he’s selling out (if you’ve seen Zach live, you know how ridiculous that is).
To me the whole review just sounded like somebody who didn’t know anything about Zach, with the writer commenting that the singer is “still performing like he’s playing a backyard barbecue, freely chatting with around 18,000 pals.” That was somehow supposed to be a negative, but for Zach Bryan fans, that’s exactly why they love him – and why he’s able to sell out those arenas.
So tonight during his show at Capital One Arena in Washington DC, it seems that Zach had a message for those in the media as he showed up onstage wearing a “RIP Mainstream Media” shirt.
And it hasn’t just been the mainstream media that’s had a lot to say about Zach lately. The superstar has also recently had to deal with rumors and chatter on Reddit after a woman accused Zach of cheating on (and giving an STD to) his girlfriend Brianna Chickenfry, who works for Barstool Sports and co-hosts the BFFs podcast alongside the site’s founder and CEO, Dave Portnoy.
It all started when Brianna, whose real name is Brianna LaPaglia, began posting videos of herself on tour with Zach, who’s currently traveling the world on his massive Quittin’ Time tour.
When the tour stopped in Newark for two nights, Bri (who lives and is based in New York) posted a video that she was happy to get off the bus and get home for a few days. And apparently, some people found this suspicious for…well, because it’s the internet and that’s what the internet does.
Almond posted on the “briannachickenfrsnark” subreddit (which is a ridiculous thing to exist in the first place, but again, the internet):
“Funny to me Bri posts how “Zach has shoes in New Jersey for 2 days so the bitch had to run off the bus” on TikTok, while I can confirm Zach has groupies / sex with fans from NJ. Coincidence, maybe?”
She also posted screenshots (which have since been deleted) of text conversations that she alleges are with Zach, discussing hooking up with him and how she allegedly got an STD from their sexual escapades.
View this post on Instagram
Well Brianna responded a couple of days after the original thread was posted, after other girls began to jump in to post their stories of alleged sexual encounters with Zach.
In a post on her Instagram story, Bri didn’t directly address the rumors, but posted a picture of her and Zach and said that she was “proud of herself and proud of her relationship” while also addressing her haters…you can just read that for yourself below:
And on an episode of BFFs, Portnoy also had some thoughts on the situation – and as usual, he didn’t hold back:
“I want to have her come on BFFs…just me, me and her, one on one, and I want to rip this girl’s lungs out.”
He also pointed out that the dates posted by Almond don’t line up with the time period when Zach and Brianna started dating:
“It was infuriating. The dates predate Bri and Zach. I boiled it down to they’re like, ‘Zach was talking to multiple girls when he was single.’ It’s like, no shit, he’s a single guy.”
And even Bri understood that Zach was hooking up with other girls before they started dating:
“He’s never been single before, he’s a f*cking rockstar, he’s rich and famous, he’s single for the first time, you don’t think he’s going to be f*cking?”
Portnoy then pointed out that none of the allegations surrounded anything that happened while Zach and Bri were together:
“There’s nothing that remotely come forward since you’ve been dating him, and that’s all that f*cking matters. So if you don’t have something that is relevant, go away. Shut the f*ck up…
Shut the f*ck up and mind your own business you jealous c***.”
@bffspodDave goes off on the girl posting things on Reddit about her and Zach Bryan leading people to believe he was cheating on Bri♬ original sound – BFFs Pod
Almond responded to the podcast with her own TikTok post, which has since been deleted after she claims that she was just “mad in the moment.”
What a mess.
