The growing drama between Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Zach Bryan and Brianna Lapaglia’s breakup goes viral after allegations of domestic abuse.
Social media enthusiasts, especially frequent TikTok watchers, may recognize Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia from her significant online presence. Recently, her name has been even more prevalent because of her relationship with the famous country singer Zach Bryan. While fans loved their relationship and thought they were a perfect match, these opinions have drastically changed since the couple’s recent split; now, details of their private relationship have been spread on social media over the past two weeks.
While these two were together, the surface details of their relationship were actively shared on both accounts. Due to how active both were on social media, it was no surprise that their breakup also became very public across platforms. The publicity of the breakup started with an Instagram post from Bryan, which Lapaglia claims she did not expect. Bryan’s sudden disclosure of the details of their breakup prompted Lapaglia to discuss her side on BFFs, a podcast she hosts alongside other internet names such as Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards.
The most shocking revelation of this celebrity split was the 12-million-dollar NDA deal that Bryan’s legal team offered Lapaglia, one that all of his previous partners had signed. She turned down the offer for her silence and exposed secrets of the relationship on her recent podcast episode; the details shared about Bryan’s emotional abuse towards her throughout the relationship will shock you.
Although Bryan has stopped speaking on the issue, he is singing about it. Many of Bryan’s previous songs have been about LaPaglia and their relationship. Since the split, Bryan has released two new songs, one of which he claims is about visiting his mother’s grave. Fans, however, think otherwise with lyrics such as “Adderall and white-lace bras that make you fall in love" or "Everyone is tellin' me that I need help or therapy, but all I need is to be left alone,” suggesting that these songs are directly related to the breakup.
Bryan is not the only one releasing music about this situation. Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, members of the BFFs podcast, released a diss track about the country singer, calling it “Smallest Man.” Richard’s, however, is signed to Warner Music Group (the same label Bryan is signed to). In light of this overlap, Warner quickly took down the diss track from YouTube and various streaming platforms. Despite this setback, Portnoy refuses to back down as he releases yet another diss track about Bryan and claims he will write 10,000 diss tracks if he has to.
Fans have already begun to take sides in this breakup, many saying that Lapaglia would not be relevant without her relationship with Bryan. To this backlash, Lapaglia has released a statement about her decision to deny the NDA, “I’m not signing away my experiences and what I went through to protect someone that hurt me, and I’m a lot stronger than a weak man.”
The surge in anger towards the women may be arguably tied to much deeper themes of sexism and victim blaming, as many fans have already begun to ask her for proof that the country singer emotionally abused her— even after she stated she would not release any videos— she says this is so her future kids would not have to see them; fans still, though, are disrespecting her privacy and asking for proof.
Although this situation seems like a classic social media drama, it is much deeper than that. As more information is released, Bryan will find himself in hot water, and fans of Bryan will begin to face morally challenging questions: Can you separate art from the artist? Can you continue to stream his music and put money in his pockets if you know he has directly caused a woman to live in distress and fear?