Country music star Zach Bryan is facing crucial media hate after his relationship with internet-personality Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia came to a dramatic halt. What first was just an announcement of their breakup has now escalated to a massive public breakup with severe accusations being made and subtle nods to abuse.
The increased attention on their breakup is all over social media, TikTok especially. If you’re tuned in on the viral video-sharing app, you’ve likely seen some of the drama and chances are you have an opinion.
“Personally, I feel like everyone goes through breakups and should be able to deal with them alone rather than bringing them to social media,” said senior Macey Long.
On October 22nd, Bryan wrote on an Instagram story that he has “had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things,” explaining that he “thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways.” Later that day, LaPaglia posted a Youtube video claiming that the breakup only ended the day before he made his public announcement.
LaPaglia was rather upset that she didn’t have time to grieve or tell her family about the breakup given that Bryan didn’t give her a heads up, leaving her almost blindsided. To continue the rage, most people simply can’t get over the fact that Bryan offered LaPaglia twelve million dollars to sign a NDA and not talk about their relationship publicly.
Most of the criticism is coming back on Bryan for not respecting boundaries and norms and taking to social media so early with a private issue.
“I feel like if he was trying to pay her 12 million dollars to keep her quiet then clearly he did something he shouldn’t,” said junior Aubrey Brown. “Clearly he does not do well with relationships given that he emailed his ex-wife divorce papers while she was deployed.”
The biggest controversy is whether people should or will continue to listen to his music. Some also wonder if this traumatic break up will encourage Bryan to produce a new album in spite of his breakup.
“I will still continue to listen to his music,” said Brown. “However in this situation, I think you need to separate the art from the artist when it comes to public relationships.”
Bryan and LaPaglia are not the only people who have faced publicity amidst personal drama. Country phenomenon Morgan Wallen faced extreme public backlash after Wallen was caught on video shouting a racial slur back in January of 2021. People fear that since Bryan and LaPaglia have broken up, she will try to ruin his music career by getting her revenge for him not forewarning her he was planning to make the breakup public.
“I don’t think Zach Bryan should have done or said what he did, but I also think Brianna shouldn’t’ve brought it to social media to ruin his career,” said Long. “She knows how much it means to him and is trying to destroy him and what he’s grown.”
