Fry: This is so unfair! I liked you back when you were a cyclops! That guy's only interested now that you have two eyes.
Leela: You're just jealous.
Fry: No, I'm not! Oh, wait, yes I am! But my point remains valid!
Leela: You're just jealous.
Fry: No, I'm not! Oh, wait, yes I am! But my point remains valid!
A character boasts about something, whether it's a new date or a song by their favorite musician. When someone else, possibly their friends, complains about that, they respond by accusing them of jealousy. When they do make such a claim, they usually are not jealous and there is good reason for them to be worried. In time, he will find that out the hard way, often to his grief.
This trope can be weakly justified provided that the friend doesn't have any evidence to support their claims, but oftentimes they will have, if not outright evidence, at least a fairly well-reasoned argument that You're Just Jealous simply brushes off.
Also note that a skeptic will often say this just before a Skepticism Failure, which may or may not be justified along the same lines as above.
See also Too Good to Be True, which is what the "jealous" people often perceive about the prize in question that the "fortunate" character doesn't; What Does She See in Him?; Complaining About Complaining; and Let's See YOU Do Better!. When there is genuine jealousy at work, see Green-Eyed Monster.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Dragon Ball Z: Several characters like Vegeta and Piccolo tell Gohan that his Great Saiyaman costume looks ridiculous. He doesn't listen and flies away from Piccolo saying that he's just jealous.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica: When it's revealed that Homura is trying to prevent Madoka from contracting, Sayaka mockingly suggests that she's jealous of Madoka's potential power. Of course, this is before Sayaka has learned what contracting really means...
- In Ranma ½, this comes up whenever Akane gets a dangerous power-up. For example:
- Relatively early on, she ate a bowl of "super soba", which increased her strength to godlike levels, with her lording said strength over Ranma. The problem though is that the super soba is only meant to be consumed by men. The side effect of a woman eating super soba? Increase testosterone production that would have eventually given her a full beard. When Ranma tried explaining this to her, she completely ignored him and claimed he was just jealous... until she sprouted whiskers. She couldn't devour the antidote fast enough.
- Much later into the manga, Akane came into the possession of a magical martial arts gi that gave her fighting skill surpassing even Ranma's. Ranma attempted to confess to liking Akane as a means of getting her away from the gi, and it almost worked until the family intervened (because of how Status Quo Is God and all), causing Akane to, you guessed it, accuse Ranma of just being jealous.
- In one episode of Samurai Pizza Cats, the Monster of the Week attaches himself onto Speedy. The robot's special power is to bring lots and lots of money to whoever it attaches to. When he quits his job and goes around acting like a complete douchbag, Guido and Polly call him out and along comes the "You're jealous, aren't you?" line.
Comic Books
- Fantastic Four Reed Richards tried to warn Victor von Doom about a mistake in an experimental setup; Doom decided that Richards was trying to hold him back out of jealousy and ignored the warning. The experiment proceeded to literally blow up in Doom's face, scarring his features (and his ego). Unable to admit that he could have possibly been wrong, Doom decided that it must have been someone else's fault; namely, Reed's. His entire vendetta against the Fantastic Four started with this. As for what keeps it going, Doom continues to blame Reed Richards for everything that has gone wrong with his life. He justifies his belief by insisting that Reed is envious of Doom's genius. It is, of course, Doom who is bitterly envious of Reed, and Reed mentioning this usually sends Doom into an Unstoppable Rage involving a lot of stretchy torture, since deep down, Doom knows it's true too.
- The pre-Crisis version of Lex Luthor always maintained that Superman was jealous of his genius. The Post-Crisis version also thinks that Superman is jealous that Luthor has more power over Metropolis than he does. Luthor is, of course, completely deluded.
Comic Strips
- Garfield: Arlene suggests she and Garfield should go dancing
. Garfield says they already did it once and Arlene points out jumping around because he had a flea doesn't count as dancing. Garfield accuses her of being jealous of his "sweet moves".
Fan Works
- The Ariana Black Series: Whenever Maria criticizes Ariana for any reason, it's always chalked up at this, no matter how valid her criticism might be. At one point, Ariana herself outright declares "You bitch! You're just jealous that I'm better than you at everything!"
- From Calvin & Hobbes: The Series:
Andy: You're just jealous because you can't play Wii.
- In Cindy's Story, Blaze accuses Ivy of being jealous of his girlfriend Dora when she expresses concern about how she's been acting. It turns out that Dora was secretly working with Team Vortex all along.
- Smurfette pulls this on Empath a few times in the Empath: The Luckiest Smurf series — once in the main timeline as a joke when Papa Smurf starts showing some amorous interest in Smurfette for the first time since "Romeo And Smurfette", and another time in an alternate timeline when Smurfette is actually in a relationship with Papa Smurf that results in a marriage, only this time she wasn't joking. Smurfette in turn gets this back from Papa Smurf in "The Other Smurfette" when she sees Wonderette (who is really Hogatha the witch in the form of a female Smurf) stealing attention away from Smurfette with her sometimes forceful advances.
- Faded Blue: Rose Quartz ignores Pearl's growing suspicions that Greg is hiding something from them, assuming that Pearl's just jealous of all the time she's been spending with him. Greg is secretly using her as an unwitting informant to help ensure his son and Blue Pearl's safety.
- Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe: Chat Noir bitterly accuses the new heroine Purple Tigress of being jealous of his "special partnership" with Ladybug. In reality, the opposite is true: Chat Noir is viciously envious of the fact that Ladybug trusts Purple Tigress, seeing her as a reliable True Companion, unlike Chat Noir, who refuses to take their heroic responsibilities seriously and wants to force her into an unwanted relationship against her will, purely because he feels entitled to her.
- Comes up in several Miraculous Ladybug Salt-Shots:
- In My Girlfriend, Alya refuses to believe any of Marinette's warnings about Lila, attributing everything to her being not-so-secretly jealous of how close the other girl is to Adrien... until the whole class learns that Marinette has been going steady with Zoé for several months. Then and only then is she willing to entertain the possibility that she was telling the truth the whole time.
- Where You Stand has Nino and Marinette deconstruct Alya's overreliance upon this, pointing out that she still ships Marinette and Adrien together, oscillating back and forth between "helping" her try to hook up with him and dismissing her crush as unhealthy and all-consuming based purely upon whatever suits her whims at any given moment.
- It Was Always You, Alya offers two examples. Not is Alya blissfully unaware that Marinette had a crush on her instead of Adrien, and still attributing her dislike of Lila to viewing her as a romantic rival, she makes the same accusations towards Chloé despite how she's been dating Sabrina for years.
- The Night Unfurls: As a case of how Evil Cannot Comprehend Good, Morgan from the remastered version thinks that Kyril is trying to start a Cock Fight with him over Grace, so him criticising how Morgan and his men get the privilege of whatever women they want in exchange for the coin is because he's jealous.
- The One to Make It Stay:
- Alya uses this to try and deflect and dismiss Marinette's clear distaste of Lila... and later attempts to spin it to her advantage to try and encourage her to start pursuing Adrien again after she gave up on her crush and started going out with Luka. She stages an Operation: Jealousy where she tries to set Lila up with Adrien purely because she thinks this will upset Marinette enough that she'll start chasing after him again.
- Chloé also accuses Marinette of being jealous of the fact that Ladybug chose her to be Queen Bee, in order to dismiss her observations about how Ladybug wouldn't be happy with how she's continued bullying and belittling others. This incident convinces her that Chloé hasn't changed at all, and leads to her stripping her of the Bee entirely.
- A Peaceful Afterlife: Husk believes that the only reason Vaggie's so upset about Charlie spending so much time with Kira is that she's envious. The fact that he's a Serial Killer who obsessively fetishizes the hands of his victims apparently doesn't factor in, so far as the bartender's concerned.
- In Scarlet Lady, this is Chloé's default excuse for anyone saying or doing anything against her. Classmates complaining about her being a Spoiled Brat and bully? They're just jealous. Akuma rampaging through the city to attack her? Jealous. Magically animated objects coming to life and attacking her? Yup, they're just Driven by Envy too.
- In Star Of Wonder Star Of Night, Hime responds this way to Nagisa commenting on her snobbishness.
- Viva la Vida: Olive accuses Otto of being jealous that she was partnered up with Odd Todd in the past. Otto incredulously protests that he'd never be jealous of Odd Todd, given how he constantly bullied and exploited his ex-partner; Olive blithely ignores this.
- Wed Locked: When Lila tries to paint Marinette with this brush, Adrien retorts that she's the one who's jealous of Marinette, as Marinette became the Class Princess without having to lie to anyone.
- What Goes Around Comes Around (Miraculous Ladybug): Chloé accuses Lila of being envious of how she got to be a Miraculous heroine for a time as Queen Bee, along with being the daughter of the Mayor of Paris, whereas Lila's never accomplished anything of note and relies upon her Celebrity Lies and other tall tales to get the attention she craves.
- Who You Know: Alya initially dismisses all of Marinette's efforts to warn her about Lila being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing because she assumes Marinette sees the other girl as a romantic rival. Later, she amends her theory slightly, accusing her "bestie" of disliking the fact that Lila's accomplishments rival her own. As she puts it, Marinette's a wannabe "big fish in a little pond" who can't stand anyone else being able to show off.
Film — Animated
- The Brave Little Toaster: Toaster claims that jealousy was the air conditioner's motivation on why he is backtalking their owner since he spent more time with the other machines. He denies it at first, but when Kirby says "'Cause you're stuck in the wall", the air conditioner can't take it, and, in a sudden moment of released repressed rage, overheats and explodes.
- Fiona tries to use this on Shrek in Shrek, but it doesn't work so well.
Fiona: You're just jealous that you can't measure up to a great ruler like Lord Farquaad!
Shrek: We'll let you do the measuring when you see him tomorrow.
Film — Live-Action
- Batman Returns: "You're just jealous, because I'm a genuine freak and you have to wear a mask!" Actually a subversion, since Batman admits that the Penguin is right.
- In Belle (2013), Elizabeth pulls this on Dido when Dido tries to tell her about James assaulting her.
- In Dead Heat, newly-zombified cop Roger catches some rounds in a gunfight with some reanimated criminals, then realizes that (being undead) they didn't cause any damage to speak of. He and his still-living partner trade quips about it:
Doug: Remember the good old days, when bullets killed people?
Roger: You're just jealous, that's all! - In The Great Muppet Caper, when Kermit and Miss Piggy argue at the park and Kermit points out that the man she danced with happens to be a jewel thief, Miss Piggy claims Kermit is jealous, which he claims he is not.
- From Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, when the Alpha Bitch tries to defend herself against a former Girl Posse member who shows her up by being a successful fashion magazine editor:
Christie: You're just jealous. Because unlike a certain ball-busting dried up career woman, I might mention, we're all HAPPILY MARRIED!
Lisa Luder: That's right, Christie. Keep telling yourself that. - The Sex Trip: Jess refuses to believe Eddie's warnings about Matt because she interprets them as being based in jealousy, specifically believing that "Edna" had lied about not being a lesbian.
Live-Action TV
- In one episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, after seething with jealousy over Jake's close bond with his old partner, Charles discovers evidence that the partner is corrupt. When he confronts Jake with the evidence, Jake accuses him of being jealous. In a rather unique twist on the trope, instead of trying to deny or deflect the accusation Charles scathingly points out that of course he's jealous, it was blindingly obvious and he was never trying to hide it.
- Xander does this to Buffy on the "Teacher's Pet" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy tries to tell him that the teacher he has a crush on is actually a giant sapient insect.
- In the Friends episode "The One With The Screamer", Ross is accused of this when he tries to warn the rest of the friends about Rachel's new boyfriend.
- On General Hospital, Brenda and Jagger get caught having sex in the nurse's office at the high school. As they're sitting in the principal's office waiting for their punishment, Karen comes in and chastises them for their behavior. Brenda responds by name-dropping this trope. She was probably right, given Karen's own feelings for Jagger, but she still seemed hell-bent on dismissing her grossly inappropriate actions.
- This phrase gets thrown around a few times in an episode of H₂O: Just Add Water in which the main characters are infatuated with a Casanova Wannabe because of a cologne that makes him stink to everyone else but acts as a pheromone for mermaids.
- In the Monk episode "Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend", Monk and Natalie warn Stottlemeyer about his new girlfriend, who is their prime suspect in a shooting, and he accuses Monk of being jealous. But he should've listened to Randy: MONK IS NEVER WRONG! Monk actually admits he might be jealous, but is still sure he's right nevertheless.
- On an episode of Newhart, Dick is trying to make a series of self-help tapes based on a book about do-it-yourself plumbing he wrote, however, he's considered not charismatic enough to host the videos and gets replaced by an airheaded model who looks appealing but doesn't know squat about plumbing. When the new host makes a joke from the cue cards and is praised by the director for his "ad-lib", Dick politely points out that he wrote the joke. "Keep that Green-Eyed Monster in a cage, Dick." the director replies.
- Orange Is the New Black: After Pennsatucky gets new teeth following her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Piper, Leanne tells her she's acting stuck up. Pennsatucky's response is these exact words.
- Scrubs:
- When J.D. was dating someone Elliot didn't approve of. Of course, Elliot was justified in her suspicion but afterward, she admitted she was actually jealous.
- Also annoyingly done when the genders were reversed in Season Three. JD got to a coding patient first, Elliot accuses him of only doing it because he's jealous of her and Sean and what's worse? The show thinks she's right!
- They did it again when JD sided with Dr. Cox in his disdain for Elliot clocking out at 5 as a private practice doctor. JD gives no hint whatsoever that he actually is jealous, and by all indications agrees with Cox just because he agrees with Cox of his own free will. Until Elliot basically blackmails him into "admitting" he was jealous by having Keith beat him up and wasting the time he would have spent talking to his then-girlfriend. And, again, she's treated as 100% in the right.
- In Seven Days. Olga will commonly express this when Frank has just jumped back through time and warned her against seeing the week's male guest star. Unusually for this trope, there tends to be a 50-50 chance that Frank really is just jealous as opposed to giving her a legitimate warning.
- Happens on Smallville pretty much every time Clark tries to warn Lana about the Freak of the Week.
- Also to a certain extent when Chloe warns Lana about Clark actually being Bizarro.
- You'd think they'd learn to just sit back and laugh when Lana is being stupid.
- Strong Medicine. Chief of Staff Bob Jackson passes over a resident for a prized position. The resident's girlfriend flat-out declares "You're jealous because I'm with him and not with you."
- In Season 2 of Supernatural, Dean has reached a new level of infamy (FBI database) and Sam attempts to lecture him on it, finding that he is not on the list. Dean recites the trope title.
- In an episode of Workaholics, Eliza uses this as a defense as to why her coworker Joan doesn't like her because Eliza has "perfectly symmetrical features and hair like Ariel. Eliza quickly drops this, saying its because she once ate Joan's gazpacho — and was then caught by Joan, without even realizing she was Joan.
Music
- The hook of "Big Weenie" by Eminem starts off with this:
You're just jealous of me 'cause you, you just can't do what I do
so instead of just admitting it, you walk around and say all kinds of really mean
things about me 'cause you're a meanie... a meanie... - Unintentional example from "Rock Star" by Prima J., heard in Bratz: The Movie.
You hate me 'cause I'm everything that you ever wanted to be.
And I don't mind, 'cause I love it when you're looking at me. - From "Cable TV" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, about a guy who becomes obsessed with television after getting cable installed:
My friends are getting kinda worried.
They think I'm turning into some kind of freak.
But they're just jealous 'cause I've seen Porky's
Twenty-seven times this week.
New Media
- Naturally Played for Laughs on the YouChewPoop website, when one of the members said the legendary line:
Pro Wrestling
- Slightly subverted in Sting's warnings that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were up to no good in TNA. He received much of the same reaction, but knowing this would happen, instead of ineffectively shouting his concerns to Dixie Carter and not being allowed to yield any results before the trope title and crackdown came calling, he made a necessary turn against Hogan and spoke in hinting language knowing the smarks would understand. Kevin Nash and The Pope caught on as well towards the end. Now Pope is one of the main characters fighting against Immortal.
- Occurred during the summer of 2009, with a bit of No Fourth Wall thrown in. Maria Kanellis had just started up a romantic relationship with Dolph Ziggler, who was still quite new in WWE and was currently challenging Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship. Maria's friend Melina Perez tried to warn Maria that Dolph was a very bad person and that Maria shouldn't be getting mixed up with him, which led Maria to respond that how Dolph acted in the ring was just Kayfabe and to fire back with this trope. Melina was eventually proved right, of course, but we never got to see what the consequences of this were for Maria, since she suddenly took time off from WWE almost as soon as the story began and didn't pick up with it when she returned a few months later.
- When Molly Holly rebranded herself as a self-righteous prude in 2002, numerous vignettes would have her talking to one of the Divas (always a Ms. Fanservice girl) over their lack of morals. The other girl would then tell Molly that she's just jealous of her own lack of sex appeal, followed by removing her top or something similar. Molly would be left standing with her jaw hanging open, then walk away.
- During A.J. Lee's 2013 "Pipe Bomb-Shell" promo deriding the cast of Total Divas (all of whom were standing in the ring), the Bella Twins said AJ was just jealous of them because she wasn't part of the show.
Puppet Shows
- The Muppet Show: In the episode starring Dom De Luise, Dom and Miss Piggy take jabs at each other's weight. Piggy counters Dom's jabs by claiming he's jealous of all the bouquets she's gotten (which she had hired Scooter to send her as part of a ploy to get Kermit's attention).
Piggy: You're jealous because I got all these flowers, and all you have is that little teensy basket of fruit.
Dom: Actually, the little teensy basket of fruit is more suitable to you.
Piggy: Ha! And why is that?
Dom: I'll tell you why. Because... [shoves an apple in her mouth] ...it looks more natural.
Theatre
- The Rose Tattoo:
Serafina: You are, you are, dirty talk, all the time men, men, men! You men-crazy things, you!
Flora: Sour grapes—sour grapes is your trouble! You're wild with envy!
Bessie: Isn't she green with jealousy? Huh?
Video Games
- In Legend of Mana, this is how Escad comes off. Indeed, even after everything comes to light, it seems to be the case that Escad genuinely is a self-righteous, jealous, angry jerk who wants to Murder the Hypotenuse in the vain hope of winning over his beloved. It just also happens to be the case that said hypotenuse is an Omnicidal Maniac, but Escad understandably has a lot of trouble convincing anyone of that fact.
- During Yukiko story mode in Persona 4 Arena, Teddie makes the mistake of saying that line to an already (for various reasons) very angry Yukiko. He suffers badly for it.
Web Animation
- Etra chan saw it!: When Karin tries to warn Azami about her reckless spending habits after she wins the lottery, she just dismisses it as jealousy.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: When Sokka suspects Jet is actually a thug, he's twice dismissed by both Katara and Aang - the former of whom has then developed a crush on Jet - as being jealous of the Freedom Fighters' way of life, being a tribe warrior himself.
- The Legend of Korra: When the title character uncovers evidence that Hiroshi Sato might be working for the Big Bad. When she tries to explain this to her friend and crush Mako, who's dating Hiroshi's daughter, he just says that she's jealous and trying to ruin their relationship.
- Batman: The Animated Series gives us this piece of dialogue between Harley Quinn and DA Janet VanDorne in the episode "Trial":
VanDorne: Sad, isn't it? Harleen Quinzel was a doctor here at Arkham, until The Joker twisted her mind.
Harley Quinn: HA! You're just jealous, 'cause you don't have a fella who's as lovin' and loyal to you as my puddin' is to me. - Danny Phantom, "What You Want":
Tucker: Oh sure. Phase the car through the building! You had to save the day, didn't you?
Danny: Uh, yeah, because a car smashing into the 28th floor of anything is BAD!
Tucker: You’re just jealous! Because there's somebody else around to grab the spotlight now! - DuckTales (1987): "Where No Duck Has Gone Before" has a third-person variation; the boys tell Courage not to pay any attention to Launchpad's criticisms as it's just because he's jealous. He is jealous, but he's also right about Courage not being a real hero.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: In "Cuckoo for Coco Cards", Mac and Coco accuse Bloo of being jealous when his attempts to upstage her during a field trip end up scaring Mac's classmates away.
Coco: Coco-cococo-coco!
Mac: Yeah, Bloo! Those kids like Coco more than you, and you're just jealous!
Bloo: (dramatically scoffs) Jealous!?! What do I have to be jealous about?! A dumb, doofy-looking weirdo who can only say one stinkin' word?! - Futurama: In "The Cyber House Rules", Fry complains that Leela's new boyfriend, a plastic surgeon who gave her a prosthetic second eye, is only interested in her because she looks like a normal person and Fry liked her when she was still a cyclops. Leela dismisses Fry as just being jealous, to which Fry objects "No I'm not! Oh wait, yes I am. But my point remains valid!"
- On Invader Zim, Zim is trying to convince Dib that Tak is really a member of his species and that the two have to team up to defeat her. Note that Tak is friendly with Dib and sort of dating Zim, even though she just uses this as a way to continually hurt him:
Dib: I like Tak, and she hates you! You're just jealous—
Zim: This has nothing to do with jelly! - In an episode of KaBlam!, Henry says this to June when she lies about telling him that Dawn liked him (she just wanted to save time). He was right.
- The classic Mickey Mouse short "Mickey's Rival" features Mortimer Mouse attempting to impress Minnie by fighting a bull (from behind a fence). Minnie enjoys it, but Mickey's convinced that Mortimer is nothing but a would-be showoff and a jerk, leading Minnie to state this in reply.
Minnie: Isn't he brave?
Mickey: A perfect scream! BAH!
Minnie: Hmph. You're just jealous! - In Miraculous Ladybug, Alya (though a Shipper on Deck for Marinette and Adrien) insists that Marinette's dislike of Lila is simply due to Lila being close to Adrien. Like nearly every other character in the show, she's oblivious to the fact that Lila is a Consummate Liar (even despite getting evidence for that fact in season 4), as well as the fact that Adrien himself (who does realize that Lila is a liar) grows to barely tolerate Lila on a good day, and she doesn't even consider the fact that Marinette befriended Adrien's ex Kagami while Kagami still had feelings for Adrien. When Adrien tells Marinette he doesn't want to go on a global tour (that Lila is also going on) and Marinette relays that fact to Alya, barely even mentioning Lila, Alya refuses to believe Marinette and insists that she is protesting out of jealousy.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic gives us two examples, with the same pony on different sides of it: In "Griffon the Brush-Off", when Pinkie Pie denounces Gilda as a jerkass, Twilight Sparkle attributes it to jealousy over Rainbow Dash wanting to catch up with an old friend. Then, in "A Canterlot Wedding: Part 1", when Twilight Sparkle thinks something is up with Princess Cadence, just about everyone—up to and including Princess Celestia—accuses her of being overly possessive of her brother. In both cases, the "jealous" pony was right all along: Gilda really was horrible to everyone except Rainbow Dash; and Cadence really was evil... because she'd been kidnapped and replaced by an impostor.
- Scooby-Doo tells Shaggy he's just jealous of when he knocks Scooby's crush on actress Sandy Duncan in The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode "Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde".
- The Simpsons: Parodied in "Covercraft". Lisa tells her dad not to be jealous of Apu leaving for a more successful band, and Homer's only objection is that he's envious of Apu, not jealous.
- Smurfette in The Smurfs (1981) episode "Papa's Wedding Day" says this of her fellow Smurfs when they see Papa Smurf falling in love with and dating Flowerbell the woodnymph, only to remain oblivious to the fact that Flowerbell was just luring Papa Smurf with her affections into being captured by Lord Balthazar until it was too late.