Halloween weekend has come and gone (not counting actual Halloween today, October 31) and music stars were out in full force, donning some fantastic costumes. One costume pair in particular turned heads, though: Billie Eilish dressed as a baby while apparent boyfriend Jesse Rutherford of The Neighbourhood went as an old man.
This is seemingly a reference to their age gap: Eilish is 20 while Rutherford is 31. The two have apparently known each other since Eilish was 15 and Rutherford was 26, a fact that made some uneasy when their relationship was first rumored. So now, some find their costume to be in bad taste, or at least an interesting decision.
Billie Eilish and boyfriend Jesse Rutherford dressed up together as a baby and an old man for Halloween. pic.twitter.com/6zLT9Z48Ho
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 31, 2022
One fan joked, “can’t believe billie eilish and jesse rutherford didn’t dress up for halloween.” Another noted, “so jesse rutherford and billie eilish basically dressed up as a pedophile and a child. great message guys.” Somebody else accused the two of “making fun of grooming.”
can’t believe billie eilish and jesse rutherford didn’t dress up for halloween
— 🌻 (@THISlSMECRYING) October 31, 2022
so jesse rutherford and billie eilish basically dressed up as a pedophile and a child. great message guys👏🏻 https://t.co/GcXiCxjOow
— spell yell saw coldplay live🥹 (@spellyell) October 31, 2022
fuck billie eilish and jesse rutherford for making fun of grooming that’s my last straw
— angie | ot7🇵🇸 (@sweetlilsweeter) October 31, 2022
Others, though, have argued that Eilish is an adult capable of making her own choices, and that she and Rutherford likely don’t care what the public thinks about them.
https://twitter.com/ranluvbot/status/1586913769405517825
https://twitter.com/oIdmanIuvr/status/1587044370716442631
Seriously. People have been treating Billie Eilish like she's a baby and calling her boyfriend Jesse an old man and she's tired of it. People making this into pedophilia are the ones who are sick since there isn't anything about that in the costumes. https://t.co/supyHMAfGX
— cal 🐈⬛ (@care11_cal7) October 31, 2022
Eilish has yet to publicly address the supposed relationship; In a 2020 interview, she noted of her romantic life, “I definitely want to keep that private. I’ve had relationships and kept them private, and even the ones that I’ve had, and the tiny amount that I’ve let the world see, I regret. So, I can’t even imagine… I think about it sometimes. I think about the people that have made their relationships OD public, like, you know what I’m talking about? And then they break up, and it’s like, ‘What if it goes bad?’ And then everybody has this whole opinion on your relationship that they have no idea about. It’s very much not something I’m interested in.”
Check out some more reactions to Eilish and Rutherford’s costumes below.
Billie Eilish and boyfriend Jesse Rutherford dressed up together as themselves for halloween! https://t.co/sDyMySZavv
— bryant🦦 (@bryslizzy) October 31, 2022
billie eilish and jesse rutherford dressing as a baby and an old man … pic.twitter.com/7uZh3Jp8Z1
— lauren (@populaurculture) October 31, 2022
billie eilish dressing up as a baby and jesse rutherford as an old man is gonna come back to haunt them i swear lol girl lacks awareness, we know it was ur idea billie !!
— ave kuromi (@mariisstoned) October 31, 2022
i feel so sad for billie eilish. she thinks shes being big and bad and grown trolling the haters but shes just showing her immaturity and proving the point. jesse is absolutely fucking disgusting and weird as FUCK for agreeing to that costume
— m (@lahhve) October 31, 2022
billie eilish dressed up as a baby and jesse rutherford dressed up as an old man for halloween… i hate it so much
— lux 🐾 (@1ibraluxxx) October 31, 2022
Why is everyone so hyped about Billie Eilish and Jesse Rutherford? It literally makes my skin crawl. That is not a good age gap guys.
— G e o r g i a ♡ (@lowkeyasgeorgia) October 29, 2022