Entertainment

The 10 most rabid celebrity fan groups online

Late last Thursday night, shortly after her rumored split with One Direction’s Harry Styles, Kendall Jenner posted a pic on Instagram that featured the phrase: “don’t let boys be mean to u.” The post was enough to send the band’s fans into a Twitter tizzy over the alleged diss.

“@KendallJenner stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE’S MINE,” tweeted one fan. “May have to unfollow Kendall Jenner on insta, she makes me want to die,” threatened another.

It’s the latest example of rabid fans lashing out on social media to defend a beloved celebrity. From Justin Bieber’s “Beliebers” furiously protesting his arrest to Ke$ha’s “Animals” bashing a music producer for her eating disorder, these new fandoms are born of feverous devotion and earnest solidarity.

“It’s not five girls at a sleepover mooning over Harry Styles,” explains Christianna Giordano, a digital strategist at Cohn & Wolfe and blogger for Social Media Today. “It’s 5 million girls chatting on Twitter all day with other crazy fans — that fuels the fire.”

She says celebs with the most devoted online followings succeed by sharing intimate moments with their fans and personally responding to them — thus nurturing a “friendship” that feels quite real: “It’s that intimacy you would have never gotten before social media,” Giordano says.

That passionate intensity isn’t too far a cry from the days of Beatlemania, notes Peggy Drexler, an assistant professor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College and author of “Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family.” What has changed, she says, is the unprecedented interaction with A-listers.

“Social media allows celebrities to give their fans ‘access,’ or, at the very least, the illusion of access,” she says.

That encourages fans to rip into those they believe have wronged their celeb buddy. “The fans can get crazy because they feel they’re defending their friend,” explains Giordano.

Here are a few of the craziest social media fan clubs:

Ke$ha

Kristin Callahan/ACE/INFphoto.com
Twitter following: 3.55 million

Fan base name: Animals

Demographic: Bad girls who follow Ke$ha’s advice to “brush their teeth with a bottle of Jack”

Known for: Despising Dr. Luke, Ke$ha’s producer, whom they blame for stifling the star creatively and the commercial failure of her last album, “Warrior”

Recent dust-up: After Ke$ha announced she was in rehab for an eating disorder earlier this year, the Animals clawed into Dr. Luke, whom a source said told her she “looked like a f - - king refrigerator.” Things got so intense, the LAPD looked into the death threats he was receiving.

Sample tweet: @Bre$ha: “@TheDoctorLuke YOU should go to HELL for making kesha go to rehab because you called her a REFRIGERATOR”

Beyoncé

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Twitter following: 13.3 million

Fan base name: The Beyhive

Demographic: Sassy single ladies who want to run the world

Known for: Taking it upon themselves to decide who can acquire “diva” status (see below), sending Bey’s last album to No. 1 overnight, making up reasons to hate on R&B has-been Ciara

Recent dust-up: Last month, the Beyhive tore into Chaka Khan after the “Through the Fire” singer rolled her eyes when a reporter told her she looked “flawless like Beyoncé.”

Sample tweet: @TheDesShantee: “But b–ch wait can we talk about the fact that Chaka Khan old a– always throwing shade at the innocent Beyonce ? #HaveASeat #ComeOn- TooMuch”

Britney Spears

INFphoto.com
Twitter following: 36.2 million

Fan base name: Britney Army

Demographic: Pop fans hanging onto the past

Known for: Defending the star’s fading vocal and dancing abilities as improving despite all evidence to the contrary; referring to Spears as a deity

Recent dust-up: The Army dispatched its forces against any and all criticism of Brit’s new Vegas residency, which features minimal singing and dancing — although the pop tart does sport a fake painted-on six-pack.

Sample tweet: @jcsef: “@ruff_ ryder_ kill yourself but before you do that buy @ britneyspears’ new single ‘WORK BITCH’ on iTunes now!”

Chris Brown

Katy Winn/AP
Twitter following: 13.4 million

Fan base name: Team Breezy

Demographic: People who still think O.J. didn’t do it

Known for: Apologizing for Brown’s domestic abuse and generally bad behavior

Recent dust-up: His recent stint in rehab got him lots of support, but the biggest upset for fans came in November 2012, when Brown got in a Twitter fight with comedy writer Jenny Johnson. After making sexist remarks, he temporarily deleted his account. Team Breezy picked up the battle with a slew of death threats.

Chris Brown: @DakotaCrimley: “If You A Hater Of Chris Brown Then Go F*** Yourself and Get A Life”

Lady Gaga

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
Twitter following: 41.1. million

Fan base name: Little Monsters

Demographic: Freaks, geeks and outsiders who were born this way

Known for: Promoting Gaga’s singles aggressively, policing perceived homophobia

Recent dust-up: When Adam Levine started sub-tweeting Mother Monster with statements like “Ugh . . . recycling old art for a younger generation doesn’t make you an artist. It makes you an art teacher,” he likely soon regretted it, thanks to an uproar from Gaga’s fans.

Sample tweet: @Van_Valentine: “@freeasmydick @adamlevine Stfu ain’t nobody got time for your f***in hate”

Katy Perry

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Twitter following: 51 million

Fan base name: KatyCats

Demographic: People who still listen to the radio and buy CDs at Walmart

Known for: Cat puns

Recent dust-up: The KatyCats brought their claws out when the Cincinnati Bengals announced last fall that they would no longer be using “Roar” during their games dues to fan complaints.

Sample tweet:
https://twitter.com/DaMack82/status/381742665496137728

Rihanna

W8 Media / Splash News
Twitter following: 34.3 million

Fan base name: Rihanna Navy

Demographic: Angry girls who like weed and gun tattoos

Known for: Hating #TeamBreezy

Recent dust-up: Last month, a Twitter user (@benvoy) Photoshopped a tweet, making it appear that Rihanna had posted the homophobic: “Arnt u gay? . . . Nuff said blah!” When his fraud was found out, @benvoy paid the price via the Navy’s battleships.

Sample tweet:
https://twitter.com/BigPauper/status/436932515362660352

Justin Bieber

Carlos Jasso/REUTERS
Twitter following: 50 million

Fan base name: Beliebers

Demographic: Lusty tweens discovering their sexual identities

Known for: Attacking any female linked to Biebz

Recent dust-up: Last spring, one 15-year-old’s harmless tweet — “Not really a fan of Justin Bieber but his acoustic album is actually good!” — became a nightmare when Bieber himself retweeted it. Beliebers immediately attacked the young girl with death threats.

Sample tweet: @julietsquda: “jus tell her to die and leave Justin alone!!!!!!”

One Direction

Al Pereira/WireImage
Twitter following: 18 million for the group account (though Harry has 19.6 million for his individual account, Niall, 17.5, Liam, 15.9, Louis, 15.6, Zayn, 12.1)

Fan base name: Directioners

Demographic: Lusty tweens who think five is better than one

Known for: Attacking any female linked to the guys, attacking other boy bands, especially the Wanted

Recent dust-up: Last summer, Directioners went nuts when a British GQ cover featuring Harry Styles with the cover line, “He’s up all night to get lucky,” which they considered an attack on his purity. GQ and its staffers paid dearly.

Sample tweet: @devon_stratton: “@Harry_Styles I wish you and Kendall break up. It is not fair and I hate Kendall she sucks a whole lot.”

Nicki Minaj

Todd Williamson/Invision/AP
Twitter following: 17.4 million

Fan base name: Barbz

Demographic: Badass ladies who spend their rent money on hair pieces

Known for: Multicolored wigs and frequent use of the N-word.

Recent dust-up: Barbz love a good feud, and Nicki’s had plenty of them, from her ongoing rivalry with Lil’ Kim to her “American Idol” tension with Mariah Carey. The Carey drama got a new burst of life last month when the two divas dropped new videos on the same day.

Sample tweet: @IamRossMathieu: “@MariahCarey YOU ONLY DO MUSIC FOR MONEY AND FAME SO F–K YOU”