Selena Gomez doesn’t get controversial on social media. It’s not in her nature and she knows that what she says always has the potential for being taken out of context–and that could mean the beginning of a tabloid scandal. This time the former Wizards of Waverly Place star and supposed girlfriend of Justin Bieber couldn’t sit by and let a bully get the best of her, so she blasted the Instagram user with a comment of her own.

The account has now been taken down, but the user told Selena Gomez she should ‘burn in hell with cancer.’

Selena then replied on another of the user’s photos–took a screen shot of her comment–and shared it with her followers via Instagram.

The Come & Get It singer preceded her photographed comment with a caption, too.

“Honestly, I don’t speak up much because it’s simply *always* taken out of context. But I don’t take bullying well. I have seen too much to not say anything.”

So how do you suppose people reacted to the fact that Selena Gomez spoke out and blasted this girl via social media? Lots of folks applauded her efforts to blast bullying. However some felt she crossed a line and publicly embarrassed this girl unnecessarily. As of Monday, Selena’s Instagram post had more than 34,000 comments.

This isn’t the first time Selena Gomez has spoken out about bullying. In March she spoke at the We Day California youth conference, telling those assembled there to “have each other’s backs.”

She even publicly recalled being bullied when first starting out in the entertainment industry.

“It does more than knock the wind out of you. It crushes you when people try to tell you you’re not good enough,” she said.

“Please just be kind to each other and love and inspire people…Let’s change the game. The most important thing is that we learn and we continue to learn from each other,” she added.

Selena Gomez put a bully in her place on Instagram and we LOVE her for it: pic.twitter.com/1aWYb8GvwM

— E! News (@ENews) July 14, 2014

Do you think Selena Gomez was too harsh when blasting this Instagram bully? Might she have served a better purpose by quietly contacting the girl in private and sharing her personal concerns? Or do you think all bullying should be called out as a means of trying to stop all such actions?

Martin Luther King, Jr. often said in his speeches that “violence begets violence.” Is this a case of bullying begets bullying?

Selena Gomez has a kind heart and no doubt meant to do the right thing by leaving this comment. Did she succeed or should she have done things differently?

Image via Instagram