Explain to me like I’m 5 years old: why do Madonna and Janet Jackson fans hate each other so much?

Winners like Madonna

No one likes Janet.

For the same reason Beyonce fans hate Gaga fans and Taylor Swift fans hate Katy Perry fans.

Worshipping pop idols brings out the inner 13 year old in gay men.

And undiagnosed mental illness.

And weird tribalism.

Im sure the vast majority of late 80s and early 90s Madonna and Janet fans were buying CDs from both of them. There really wasn't a way to formalize sides as there is today with twitter, facebook, and message boards.

The JJ troll has made me dislike JJ. Before that I never cared about her one way or the other .

They don’t. This is social media generation trolling for trolling sake by those who more than likely don’t even listen to the artist they're ‘defending’.

There have always been rivalries between different fanbases: Prince and Michael Jackson, Culture Club and Dead or Alive, Beyonce and Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim, Britney and Christina, Guns ‘N Roses and Nirvana, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, etc. These fans get overly obsessive and defensive of their favorite artist and for some reason get upset when they see an artist that they seem to be competition to their favorite. I’ve never understood it, but it’s hardly just Madonna and Janet.

Because Madonna is the Queen of Pop and Janet is not.

These women are in their 50s and 60s- all their fans are dead.

Madonna is the queen of nothing now. Except bad plastic surgery.

This goes back to the early ‘80s, in middle school you liked either Culture Club or Duran Duran, but not both!

I don't Stan any celebrity and dislike most of them, an bored with the rest. Madonna is just like a freak show that you can't look away from because she puts herself on SM everyday. " What the hell will her face look like today?"

Am, ^

R10: I beg to differ, I like both. I had crushes on both the drummers of Culture Club and Duran Duran. As to the question at hand, I like both, Madonna and Janet Jackson.

I think it's sexism, really.

The media (especially social media) encourages us to pit our divas against one another.

R14 Read R6. It has nothing to do with sexism. Men have been pitted against each other too.

R15, I did read it. I disagree. Those examples of men are from BANDS, and the rivalry there is very different. These bands respect each other and tour together. The female rivalries mentioned are (or were) very real.

Is there some big feud between fans of Chris Stapleton and Vince Gill? Justin Bieber and Nick Jonas? No, there really isn't.

But you can't name two females singers without gay men and teen girls scrambling to say how their diva will cut theirs, and how you're an idiot for liking one over the other.

It's totally sexist, because the industry is sexist.

It's the delusional and psycho Janet fans doing the hate. They're the only people on the planet (Janet included) who even begin to think Janet and Madonna are even comparable.

If you went out on the street and asked random people to name a Janet song, I reckon only 10% could. 100% could name ten of Madonna's.

What? They don’t hate each other. It’s all bullshit PR games.

Think of it as 2 football teams at super bowl.

Because, OP, humans have a tendency to be tribal. A subset of people take it to extremes and behave like cult members. They cultivate an "us vs. them" mentality. Cultish behavior doesn't exist only in religious groups. It exists in political groups. It exists in fandoms that worship entertainers. It exists in fitness movements like CrossFit. It exists in multi-level marketing companies like Amway and NXIVM.

Some wonder, "How you can ever be fooled into joining a cult?" It's not a mystery. People want to belong to something. They are more easily influenced than they think. They stop thinking for themselves and let others take charge. Now they belong to a cult. Stans of celebrities are only a few steps away from Scientologists.

I grew up in the '80s and liked Madonna, Janet, Culture Club, and Duran Duran. Never heard anybody claim you had to pick one and hate the other, never occurred to me I was supposed to choose a side or even that there were sides.

Now, the kids who were into heavy metal instead of pop were a subculture unto themselves, with denim jackets they'd write the names of their favorite bands on with ballpoint pens, huge hair, etc. They tended to smoke, cut class, and generally cause and get into trouble. So there was tribalism, but the breakdown was by genre.

R17 not so sure that’s accurate , at least in 2022. Janet seems to be more relevant with the documentary success and headlining festivals. Madonna seems to just be a meme nowadays.

[quote] Because Madonna is the Queen of Poop and Janet is the Queen of Pop.

Fixed.

Lizzo would agree

R21 Madonna is also almost 10 years older than Janet. Granted she’s being silly nowadays.

Janbot has been summoned, I see.

Madonna is old enough to be Janet’s mother, and looks like it.

M A D O N N A is a Superstar. janet is a gas bubble. Enough said.

JANET is a relevant icon. Madonna is a sad footnote of a once-great mimicry artist. ‘Nuff said.

There's only so much oxygen on that little Madonna-Janet Jackson planet circling the bigger Gaga-Beyoncè sun. Gaga has the singing / acting career Madonna wanted and Beyoncè has the Black Queen adulation Miss Jackson expected.

Man, I love all music and appreciate the musicians who create it from all cultures and genres.

Good music is good music. Fuck tribalism.

The Janet vs. Madonna rivalry amongst fans started in the '90s when Janet, being self-righteous, took pot shots at Madonna. Janet was doing better than Madonna for a period when Madonna's career slowed due to the Sex Book controversy.

But then a decade later, Janet whored herself out on TV, exposing her ugly tit and blamed it on JT and wardrobe malfunction.

She also ended her career. She is a queen. Queen of Ending Her Own Career.

I remember when Janet made a comment about Erotica back then that still makes me laugh to this day. Something along the lines of, "She didn't even sell that many albums. Her last album sold 2 million. They shipped it, but it got shipped back". The SHADE!

THAT still makes you laugh? How sad that is.

Mental illness and nothing better to do?

The anicki Minaj fanatics are the absolute worst. They are the most acidic, territorial, VICIOUS “stans” of any pop star I’ve seen (on Twitter).

Lizzo also calls The Golden Corral buffet a "light lunch" so I wouldn't put too much weight (no pun intended) behind her opinion.

[...]

This is just like the rabid Buster Keaton fans and the psychotic Charlie Chaplin crowd. Trust me, you DON’T want to take sides with those people!

R20's comment is spot on... I was there

[quote]Now, the kids who were into heavy metal instead of pop were a subculture unto themselves, with denim jackets they'd write the names of their favorite bands on with ballpoint pens, huge hair, etc. They tended to smoke, cut class, and generally cause and get into trouble. So there was tribalism, but the breakdown was by genre.

Can confirm. I was one of the heavy metal kids. Didnt smoke but got into fights and shit. Always in the shit, just the depth varied

Madonna may be a bitch but she NEVER badmouthed Janet. Miss Jackson threw shade at Madonna. In return, the Queen of Pop acted with class and defended Janet when she exposed her tit to the world.

These stans and their battling is so dumb and especially embarrassing if they are grown ass gay men not little girls and fem teens. I like both of their music and I don't care who was bigger or more popular. That has little to do with musical quality. Take this shit to Twitter or ATRL.

[quote] Madonna may be a bitch but she NEVER badmouthed Janet.

In Truth or Dare, her dancer told her that what she had on was “Very Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation,” and she responded, “Bite your tongue.”

[quote] In return, the Queen of Pop…

Is Janet

Who cares?

[quote] I always thought that the same audiences liked both of them. I guess I was way off on that one.

You are not off, OP. The great majority of us love both. There are just a handful of DL miscreants that disparage one over the other.

They don't. It's like 100 DLers who care and debate; most of them performatively.

I'm with the OP. I'm 42 and practically grew up with both of them throughout my early childhood into my 20s with both artists as constant chart forces and always bought everything both of them did and have seen both live. I never understood the "war" as I always loved both. Some eras I liked Madonna better, some I liked Janet better, some I loved both equally, etc... It's weird to see anyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s who likes one who doesn't at least like a few songs the other did.

Stan culture as a whole is lost on me though. I dislike certain artists because I dislike them, not because (____) blocked my favorite artist from #1 this week back in 2004 or whatever. Same with how I've been able to reconcile liking both Prince and Michael Jackson, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, etc.... limiting yourself to one artist/genre is boring.

I'm 48 and I was completely oblivious to any "war" between Madonna and Janet Jackson fans. It seems like complete made-up B.S. that you will only find in the DL.

I loved Janet through Rhythm Nation. When Janet the Album came out, I wasn't as into her. But, my love for Rhythm Nation and Control has never abated. I even like a couple of songs off of Janet now. I've always disliked Justin Timberlake for throwing her under the bus after the Superbowl. She's a bit of weirdo, but I'd be to if I had her origin story. She may have not had Michael's success, but she still blew the other Jackson brothers out of the water.

I loved Madonna from the 1980s until recently when she really started to go to town on her face in real life and with the IG filters. I reserve the right to like her again if she somehow spins her biographical movie into gold. I don't think it'll happen, but we'll see. But, she'll always be the influential icon she shaped herself to be. Her late 80s/early 90s-era was one of the greatest runs of mainstream entertainment success ever.

Janet is reductive.

Facial fillers and butt implants are grotesque.

[48] I've seen Madonna and Janet fans drag each other on message boards since the early days of message boards. I remember circa Velvet Rope/Ray Of Light they were going back and forth and it hasn't gotten better

M A D O N N A

[quote] For the same reason Beyonce fans hate Gaga fans

That’s not a thing. They love Gaga because they worked together. Beyonce just wished Gaga a happy birthday. They’re two different genres, not in competition with each other.

Madonna fans hate Gaga because their drunk obnoxious queen hates and is jealous of her.

Janet’s Control through Velvet Rope are pop masterpieces. Her last album was pretty damn good too. She lost me in the 2000s just like Madonna. Madonna began taking herself too seriously and churning out pretentious crap and Janet just went on autopilot releasing albums full of wannabe radio hits lacking any personality. Her affair with Jermaine Dupri and the Super Bowl thing were just bizarre.

Janet no longer irritate me as she pretty much keeps out of the spotlight. Madonna is a slow moving trainwreck who can’t deal with her issues privately. Her acting like a perpetual victim is also really pitiful. She’s head into Michael Jackson delusional territory.

What if you hate both?

^ Same here. I'll still check out new music they make (barring Madonna's bizarre mumble rap remixes of Frozen to try and get the kids to like her) but her Instagram is a trainwreck. My best friend and I have both been huge fans since childhood and I swear at least once a week one of us messages the other in absolute disbelief of how ridiculous her Instagram is. Last time with the clip of her kissing the camera while looking like Pete Burns' corpse