A glamorous comedian and musician has accused Jelly Roll of a salacious online smear campaign that included an alleged hitman and independent death threats — and contributed to the breakup of his marriage to Bunnie Xo.
Nicole Arbour, whose recent Jelly Roll diss track “Cosplay Christian” racked up millions of views online, claimed the country superstar and Bunnie Xo spent years fabricating stories about her that caused financial and marital tension between the two.
The Canadian-born multi-hyphenate also claimed she believed their divorce may be a publicity stunt.
“Jelly Roll and his wife will create a PR scandal,” Arbour alleged to the Post. “I believe this divorce is. They create a giant scandal with the press that they get off of, then launch something.”
The “Need a Favor” singer rose to fame as a born-again Christian and a reformed drug addict whose story captivated fans immediately. His rise, alongside his relationship with Bunnie Xo, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, was chronicled in his 2023 Hulu documentary “Save Me.”
Naturally, their divorce is making headlines around the world.
The bizarre saga between Arbour and Jelly Roll dates back to early 2021, when Arbour claimed she traveled to Nashville to collaborate musically with country rapper Ryan Upchurch, a former collaborator of Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord.
According to a federal lawsuit filed by Arbour against Upchurch for copyright infringement, the pair wrote several songs together, including “Good Day,” “Severe Storms,” and “Backroad Runners.”
Upchurch denied that they wrote them together and the lawsuit was dismissed. In any event, what allegedly began as a music collaboration quickly spiraled into a bitter personal and public feud.
Arbour alleged to The Post that Upchurch developed romantic feelings that she did not reciprocate, joking that the extent of their relationship was grabbing an Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ Onion after a studio session.
“He had some feelings, and they weren’t reciprocated in the way that that guy would have liked,” the comedian claims. “He was offended by me saying that I was dating other people.”
Upchurch did not respond to The Post’s request for comment at the time of reporting.
She claimed what followed was a misunderstanding involving Upchurch’s wallet left at her home, which snowballed into online rumors and public attacks that expanded to include Jelly Roll and his then wife, Bunnie Xo. Arbour said the couple amplified false stories about her to their massive audiences.
“They made up some big scandal about me stealing his wallet, which had never happened, and launched a single with Jelly Roll and Ryan Upchurch together,” Arbour alleged to The Post. “It worked so well using my name and making up this big giant scandal that they did it again.”
At the time, Arbour claimed Jelly Roll was collaborating with Upchurch, who has millions of wildly loyal fans, as he was crossing into country music and wanted to capitalize on his fan base. Jelly Roll allegedly platformed Arbour and Upchurch’s personal drama to create a PR narrative that would incentivize social media fodder.
According to Arbour, the online attacks escalated as Jelly Roll’s newly estranged wife, Bunnie Xo, became involved, allegedly spreading false rumors about her to their millions of followers.
“The second time it was Bunnie making up that I filed false rape charges, or spread that I filed false rape charges against their friends, alleging that their friends had roofied and raped me, which they never had,” Arbour claimed. “I DM’d her instantly and said that didn’t happen, but she ran with it anyway because it was a scam to get attention.
The online vitriol spiraled into harassment and even allegedly sparked death threats that resulted in Arbour hiring a full-time security team following three separate events where she alleges the country singer “came at her.” The incidents included verbal altercations in public places, which are also documented on the influencer’s Instagram.
“I was told by multiple people that they were hiring someone to kill me,” Arbour told the Post, and ultimately filed a restraining order against Upchurch and several of his cohorts.
That restraining order was initially granted and then was dissolved, with Arbour ultimately being forced to pay the defendants’ attorneys’ fees, according to court documents reviewed by the Post.
In the case of the unraveling of Jelly Roll and Bunnie’s marriage, Arbour believes her years-long conflict sheds light on the couple’s relationship behind the scenes and even points to financial distress. The pair is said to be going through a messy financial split of assets.
She claimed the controversy surrounding her caused friction between the pair and said she believes events connected to their feud played a role in the highly publicized split.
“So, I guess that there was a huge fight about it,” Arbour alleged. “I was told one of his main sponsors quit because she wouldn’t work with him after seeing my videos.” Arbour did not specify which sponsor.
Arbour is referring to a series of Instagram videos called “The Jelly Roll Files,” which she posted alongside the release of her satire song to explain this wild tale.
On March 1, she filed a police report in which she claimed Jelly Roll verbally assaulted her, as alluded to in the string of videos. Arbour alleged to The Post that the trio tried to settle, but she ultimately rejected the offer and instead released her music video.
“They sent me a hush money deal,” Arbour claimed. “I said, ‘F–k you guys,’ and dropped ‘Cosplay Christian,’ she alleged of the diss track, accusing the singer of cultivating a carefully crafted public image as a born-again Christian.
The song quickly amassed millions of views and streams online, bringing renewed attention to the years-old feud. According to Arbour, the public reaction had real-world consequences for Jelly Roll and his business interests, while also exposing tensions within his marriage.
“People in his team told me that he started losing brand deals, and the ticket sales for his concerts went right down if they didn’t have to be completely canceled,” she claimed. “They’re giving away 1000s of tickets to all of his shows with Post Malone.”
Arbour offered no direct evidence linking her dispute to the couple’s divorce filing, and neither Jelly Roll nor Bunnie has publicly suggested that their separation had anything to do with her.
Representatives for Jelly Roll declined to comment on Arbour’s specific allegations but pointed to a history of legal disputes involving the comedian, which included the 2021 suit against Upchurch and others, alleging defamation and other claims, and the 2022 copyright lawsuit against Upchurch, both of which were dismissed.
Despite this, Arbour has denied wrongdoing and has maintained that she was the victim of a years-long harassment campaign.
And her growing claims are giving people reason to take a second look.
“People thought I was crazy,” she said. “Now they’re starting to ask questions.”
Read the full article here
