The Bieber-KarJenner connection started with Kim. When Kim was 29 and Justin was 16, they posed together in a photoshoot for Elle. Some of the images were suggestive, such as the pair running on the beach holding hands in wet clothes.

This inappropriate age gap between Justin and Kim met the pair with controversy. At the time, TV host Bill O'Reilly said, "I'll tell you this: If a 16-year-old girl was pictured with a 29-year-old man in any of that, he'd be in big trouble. Game over."

When images from the photoshoot resurfaced more recently, people were also appalled that the photoshoot was allowed to happen.

“As I kid I was so jealous when I saw these pictures, but as an adult,” one Reddit user wrote on this thread. “[This is] so cringe and low-key inappropriate.”

“It's high-key inappropriate,” another responded. “Justin is and looks like a baby — it's disturbing. If genders were reversed, this would have never been printed.”

After the photoshoot, Justin posted one of the images on X (formerly Twitter) and jokingly referred to Kim as his “girlfriend.”

Some fans didn’t take kindly to the joke and began sending the reality star death threats. This prompted Justin to take action and clarify their relationship status... but not without sending a flirty comment Kim’s way.

“Ladies, calm down. @kimkardashian is a friend,” he wrote on X. “A very sexy friend, but a friend. No need for threats. Let's all be friends and hang out often.”