Joshua Bassett is facing fresh backlash after he weighed in on speculation about whether his upcoming memoir, Rookie, will cover his very public breakup with Olivia Rodrigo. The 25-year-old singer replied to a social media post about the book and said, “let's just say it's essentially a diary entry.”
The comment quickly drew fire from some Rodrigo fans, who accused Bassett of trying to use his ex-girlfriend, now 23, to stay in the conversation. One social media user wrote, “everyone tryna get a piece of olivia ever since the album announced,” while another mocked “the concept of only being able to stay relevant through your ex from 5 years ago.”
That reaction lands in a storyline that has followed both artists since 2021, when Rodrigo’s hit “drivers license” became tied to the breakup and the wider online fascination around Bassett, Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter. Bassett’s memoir title, Rookie, has only added to that interest, with readers already treating the book as a chance to revisit a period that defined the early part of both of their careers.
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But the response has not been one-sided. Some users argued Bassett has been dragged into a love-triangle narrative that has shadowed him for years and should be allowed to tell his side. One X user wrote that the book is about everything he has gone through, including death threats and depression, and asked why anyone would expect him to ignore the hate he says he endured during that period.
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For Bassett, the fight over a few words has turned his memoir into something bigger than a celebrity recap. He did not just hint that Rookie will touch on the breakup; he suggested the book will read like a private record of what happened, which means the controversy around Rodrigo is likely to follow the project right up to publication.
