Selena Gomez Defends Hailey Bieber After Viral 'Inspired' Comments

Selena Gomez has entered the chat after Hailey Bieber's comments about not being "inspired by" other beauty brands went viral -- and planted a flag next to the Rhode Beauty founder in her defense.

Check out Sel's Instagram post she shared -- and swiftly deleted -- Friday night. She tells fans to "leave the girl alone" after she was slammed for what people, and even TMZ, assumed were shady comments about her.

The "Only Murders in the Building" star went on ... "She can say whatever she wants. Doesn’t affect my life whatsoever. It’s just about relevance not intelligence. Be kind. All brands inspire me. There is room for everyone. And hopefully we can all stop."

As you likely saw, the drama unfolded from comments Hailey made during her recent WSJ interview, during which she decried women being pitted against each other so often ... and said she doesn't "feel competitive with people that I’m not inspired by."

She made the comment when asked about Rhode now being sold against the myriad of other Sephora brands ... which includes Selena's Rare Beauty.

But, like Selena, HB said she thinks there's room for everyone. And, sources connected to the model and beauty mogul confirmed her statement had nothing to do with Sel.