Unpacking Justin Bieber’s Dramatic Drew House Exit

Something is going on with Justin Bieber, specifically his relationship with his ex-clothing brand, Drew House. It’s hard to say what exactly that something is, but it seems … really messy. The singer has very publicly cut all ties with the brand he launched in 2019, and reportedly hasn’t spoken to Ryan Good, Drew House’s creative director and the best man at Bieber’s wedding, in over a year. Now, some sources are saying the estranged relationship stems from Bieber’s close relationship with his hypebeast pastor (not the one you’re thinking of). Let’s dive in, shall we?

Bieber left Drew House a few weeks ago

Bieber started dropping heavy-handed hints about his departure from Drew House earlier this month, when he posted what appears to be an AI-generated animated video of him setting fire to a house filled with the brand’s merch. In the video, he leaves the burning building to join his wife, Hailey, and their son before strolling to a new structure shaped like the logo for his upcoming brand, Skylrk, which he’s been teasing for over a year.

Anonymous sources started talking about the split

Now, amid a series of concerning videos showing Bieber acting erratically, sources from both sides of the Drew House breakup seem to be sharing their side of the story with TMZ. First, sources close to Ryan Good told the outlet that the creative director hasn’t spoken to Bieber in over a year, following Good’s departure from Churchome, the megachurch in Beverly Hills that Bieber attends. According to sources, Good felt that Churchome was a “cult” and that Bieber’s close relationship to founding pastor Judah Smith is to blame for their estranged friendship.

Per TMZ, Bieber brought Smith onto the Drew House board a few years ago, which sources say was “weird” given that Smith has no experience with running a clothing brand. That being said, some sources close to Smith told TMZ that the pastor “has no issue with Ryan and wishes him the best.” Of course.

A few hours after that initial TMZ article went up, more people started talking. In a second article on the site, sources close to Bieber explained the singer felt that the brand was “no longer his” and wanted to distance himself from his ex-manager, Scooter Braun, who also served on the board and has been involved in the brand since its launch. (You may recognize Braun as the former super-manager who also repped Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato, and most famously became a pop culture villain by buying Taylor Swift’s catalogue.) The folks speaking out for Team Bieber claimed that he and Smith were always outvoted when it came to Drew House decisions. Sources speaking on behalf of Drew House denied that account, saying that Bieber never lost a board vote.

The Drew House sources also wanted to stress that Good has no ill will toward Bieber, but instead is concerned about Churchome’s influence on him. They reiterated to TMZ that Good left the church because he believed Smith was “running a cult” and “controlling” Bieber. The Cut has reached out to representatives for Bieber, Good, and Drew House, and will update this post when we hear back.

Meanwhile, fans are growing more concerned about Bieber’s behavior

All of this comes on the heels of Bieber sparking concern from fans. Earlier this month, he was filmed blowing up at paparazzi who caught him outside of a coffee shop in Palm Springs. After one of them said, “Good morning,” Bieber snapped. “No, not good morning,” he said, “All you want is money. Go. Get out of here. All you guys want is money … You don’t care about people. Only money. No people. You don’t care about human beings.”

More recently, a video of him attending a Coachella party went viral this past weekend. In the video, which includes several different clips of the singer, he appears to hit some kind of vape, assumes a hunched position while “Not Like Us” is playing, and sits on a speaker while seemingly vaping and bobbing his head to his song “What Do You Mean.” In the comments, many fans expressed concern for Bieber, writing, “I’m sorry but he doesn’t look ok, he’s not just ‘having fun’ he’s definitely under some hard influence,” and, “He needs better friends by [his] side.”

The vibes around this whole situation are undeniably bad. We can only hope it doesn’t get worse, I guess? Perhaps the Biebers should consider a new church, preferably one where the pastor has no idea what Grailed is.