Selena Gomez Grabs Dinner with Taylor Swift Amid Benny Blanco Backlash

Selena Gomez is catching heat over her relationship with Benny Blanco -- and it seems she's dealing with it by leaning on one of her best gal pals ... Taylor Swift.

The singer/actress stepped out Friday night in NYC for what turned out to be an all-female power dinner with not just Taylor -- but Cara Delevingne and Zoe Kravitz as well ... and later in the evening, Anya Taylor-Joy too. Sophie Turner was a tad bit busy, it seems.

Anyway, everybody was dressed to the nines for their pap walk ... including Selena, who was in some sort of snakeskin outfit that looked great on her. She was clearly ready for pics.

The group of ladies are said to have hit up a venue for Brooklyn for a comedy show, and then went to an Italian joint nearby shortly thereafter. As they came and went, the crew was putting on a pretty united front -- with T-Swift, of course, being the main centerpiece.

We know Selena and Taylor are tight, and they've gone out for high-profile dinners like this before ... so on its face, it's just a group of friends getting together to paint the town red.

Now, with the added context of this new "controversy," Selena finds herself in as it pertains to Benny -- whom she confirmed she was dating this week -- it lops on an extra layer of intrigue and speculation, as the timing appears to be too close to be a mere coincidence.

Fact is, fans (and haters) of hers suspect this outing might've likely been coordinated by Selena herself as a way to send a message to everyone who's up in arms about Benny.

That message being ... I'M HERE, AND I AIN'T GONNA BE SHAMED INTO GOING DARK!

Part of the reason she's catching flak over Benny -- aside from the fact people think she's "dating down" by being with him -- is because of this alleged IG comment she apparently responded to over the past 24 hours ... which points to her recent remarks on Palestine.

Someone slammed Selena for feeling the need to be very vocal over her relationship with BB, but shying away from the Palestine-Israel issue and taking a social media break over something objectively more important ... to which she replied "you're right."

If it sounds like an unfair critique ... well, you might have an argument that it totally is.