Former child star Alexa Nikolas has accused Joe Jonas of asking her for X-rated photos while they were teenagers.
On September 8, the Zoey 101 alum took to Twitter, also known as X, to seemingly expose the star, though the reaction from fans wasn't as supportive as one would have hoped.
"I met Joe Jonas when we were teens and let’s just say he’s the guy who wore a purity ring but asked for nudes," the 31-year-old wrote on the platform.
She also included the grey skull emoji at the end of the tweet.
Fans took to the comments to express their opinions on the matter, with some claiming that the star was taking things too far, while others supported her.
"Yeah, I was fully backing you until this one," wrote one user.
"Please tell me you're a troll account and not actually Alexa cause regardless, you need to mind your own damn business and talk about something else," added another.
A third also described her as "opportunistic": "Way to make someone else’s divorce about yourself… celebs are so opportunistic... goodness."
However, others sided with Nikolas.
"These replies are concerning and are exactly why males get away with disgusting behavior. It shouldn’t matter that he was a teenager. Y’all basically saying 'boys will be boys,'" this user wrote in the comments.
And this user tried to take a slightly more empathetic and analytical route: "I've no doubt you were part of disturbing Hollywood child actor exploitation. But this sounds more like teen boy behavior that happens thousands of times a day in schools on phones than institutional assault by predators. If you share all, maybe it dilutes the more serious stuff?"
Now, we're all pretty much aware of the whole "purity rings" scandal - it was practically the talk of the town thanks to the Jonas Brothers.
In an interview back in 2013, Joe spoke to Vulture stating that he was only "10 or 11" when he was first introduced to the concept.
"There’s a program people do in some churches called True Love Waits, where you wait for marriage to have sex," he said. "Kevin and I decided to join — Nick tried it later. Fast-forward a few years, we’ve started playing music and we’re working with Disney and we have these rings."
Nick also took to a Reddit Ask Me Anything forum to give his perspective on the issue.
He wrote: "There was a person in the church who at one point demanded that all the kids in the youth group put these purity rings on and make this commitment, so without a full understanding of what we were stepping into, we all made this commitment."
He continued: "But as you do, you grow up, you live life, you gain some world perspective and you develop your own views and opinions as it relates to faith, as it relates to sex and everything that falls under the bounds of what your parents teach you and what comes from religion and you get to make your own choices.
On multiple other occasions, the trio has also spoken out about it.
In an episode of Watch What Happens Live, with host Andy Cohen, all of them agreed that the rings were a bad idea.
"Well, in theory, they're not a bad idea," Nick said when asked about the rings. "But you should know what you're signing up for before you sign up for that."
Joe also added: "When you're 12 versus when you're like 16, it's a very big difference."
And we can't forget about this little golden nugget that came in 2019 during an episode of The Late Late Show With James Corden.
It all started as a private affair because their father was a pastor in a church and suddenly it became front-page news because a reporter told them he was going to "expose" them as part of a cult.
"The next thing you know, it was 'the Jonas Brothers and their purity rings,'" Joe told Corden. "We decided at one point, 'Look, this is not who we are. We don't need to be wearing this anymore. This is annoying. People are making fun of it anyway. We can make fun of it ourselves.'"
This criticism led them to take off the rings and continue their lives as "normal" teenage boys - well, as normal as it gets for three boys in a very famous pop band.
