A new investigative article by reporter Frances Kindon over at the Mirror offers a deep dive into what really caused the British boy band One Direction to split up in 2016.
One Direction burst onto the music scene nine years ago when Simon Cowell paired the guys together on The X Factor. Little did any of them know at the time, but they would go on to become one of the most successful boybands of their generation, playing to sold out stadiums and selling over 50 million records worldwide.
And then it all came crashing down.
According to Kindon, there were several factors that led to the band’s demise, including gay sex rumors involving Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson that they could never seem to shake.
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Fans first began speculating that Styles and Tomlinson were an item, nicknaming them “Larry Stylinson,” in 2012. For whatever reason, Tomlinson found the rumors especially bothersome.
Shortly after they began circulating, he addressed the “Larry” rumors in a tweet, calling them “the biggest load of bullsh*t I’ve ever heard.”
@skyleridk Hows this , Larry is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. I'm happy why can't you accept that.
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) September 16, 2012
Later that year, he explained the impact they were having on his friendship with Styles:
This is a subject that was funny at first but now is actually hard to deal with in a relationship. Me and Harry are best friends. People look into our every move. It is actually affecting the way me and Harry are in public. We want to joke around, but there seems to be a different rumor every time we do anything. I act the same way with Harry as I do [with] any of the other boys and my childhood friend Stan.
Even after One Direction officially split, the rumors persisted.
In 2016, Tomlinson used Instagram’s moderating features to block people from writing the word “Larry” in their comments on his photos.
And in 2017, he told an interviewer that he found the rumors to be “a little disrespectful,” saying they “created this atmosphere … where everyone was looking into everything we did.”
The intense scrutiny between him and Style “took away the vibe” they had and made “everything a little bit more unapproachable.” Ultimately, that’s what killed the band.
“I think it’s one of these things that people love to buy into, but in reality, obviously there’s no truth to it,” he said. “Obviously.”
To this day, Tomlinson is haunted by the rumors.
When HBO’s “Euphoria” depicted the two singers as gay lovers in an episode that aired earlier this month, he once again spoke out, tweeting: “I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.”
I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) July 1, 2019
One Direction announced they were going on an 18 month hiatus in January 2016. The band has yet to announce any plans of getting back together.
In February 2018, they officially folded their touring company, which, just a few years earlier, had produced the highest-grossing tour by a vocal group in history, and the 20th highest-grossing concert tour of all time, pulling in almost $300 million.
Related: Louis Tomlinson finally comes clean about those Harry Styles gay rumors
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Me think she doeth protest waaaaay tooooo much ……
RIGay
This ship sailed and sank a long time ago.
NEXT!!!!!!
Doctor Benway
First, it wasn’t sex rumors, it was love relationship rumors, there’s a difference for me.
Then, I don’t know whether they were really together or not but there was enough “curious moments” to have at least the benefit of the doubt.
And it’s always kinda curious that it’s always Tomlinson speaking about that, we never heard Harry. Guess one of them is really afraid people could think he’s gay and the other one doesn’t really care.
Donston
Well, Harry semi eggs on gay rumors and has hinted in a song that he at least like to suck dick sometimes. If I’m being honest, I doubt Harry all that into guys. He’s probably just “borderline queer” and young. It is Louis that seems most frustrated and annoyed with the rumors and the fans’ fantasizing.
tommyboy5023
There is all sorts footage of their concerts and interviews where the guys kiss, hug, touch or just sing love songs to each other. Maybe it was a management ploy. If they display gay behavior, teenage girls will find them sexy, buy not threatening. Whatever the reasons, its hypocritical for them to get mad that they were shipped.
ptb2016
These kind of comments just show up the insecurity of the person about their own sexuality, and their homophobia, inbred and denied as it may be.
Just compare how Keanu Reeves dealt with the many gay rumours. He said nothing. Ignored them. Cool as ever! Louis is a bit of an asshole! Notice how Harry’s being very quiet about it!
scotshot
The last tour raked in over $300,000,000. Their shares from that alone makes them wealthy -so they’l never have to worry about money. I’d retire.
If I were them and gay – come out, otherwise ignore the crap, letting g someone else control. your life is pretty ignorant.
floweredpot
whoever wrote this article should be ashamed of themself. imagine writing for an lgbt publication and ignoring the plethora of evidence of closeting and homophobia that lgbt people have to face within the entertainment industry and ignoring that hey- maybe the people you are writing about could potentially be forcibly closeted or closeted for whatever other reason. the “research” this person did is laughable considering they fail to mention that louis was the first one in the band to acknowledge and say that he loves gay fans just the same and continuously shows support for the lgbt community. not to mention that louis has been the writer of every single song that lgbt fans hold close to their hearts included in one direction’s discography. his solo song just like you which featured articles about closeting in the music industry? guess the author of this article really didnt do their job. louis including those articles in that video meant more to closeted and lgbt fans than anything. it’s irrelevant if louis is straight or gay or whatever though. the person who wrote this article and the people commenting have proven that they dont care about closeted people or potentially closeted people. and that they dont care to do the research. and if you cared enough, the research would show that louis makes lgbt fans feel safe regardless of his sexuality. he had every right to feel violated that an animated sex scene of himself was aired on tv. it would be humiliating whether it was a gay or straight sex scene.
Hdtex
Grow up. Literally no one cares.
AdamQ
floweredpot is one of those crazy Larry fans.
_em
Imagine thinking the word investigative and Mirror go to together in a sentence. This is just a rehash of the smear article Dan Wootton wrote for the Sun in 2015. Everyone who has followed 1D knows Harry has been being groomed for a solo career since he met the Azoffs in late 2012 and had one foot out the door ever after. It’s no wonder he fell out with Louis who out his heart and soul into the band. We’re getting new articles blaming Louis for the end of the band because Harry is about to out new music. The fact that he never speaks out while his team continue to smear Louis even after he’s lost two family members is pretty despicable.
Donston
I don’t really see much point in continuing to smear Louis considering that no one is checking for that dude.
liveincolors
Don’t you have anything more interesting and important to do than come here spewing bs? Go on tumblr with your other rad friends.
Brian
To this day, I don’t understand why Harry was the dreamboat of 1D. I think he’s the least attractive of the 5. Not ugly by any means, but ordinary.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Check out the pic of him peeing with his pants down to his knees, he has an absolute perfect arse!
:-p
Man About Town
How exactly does one “pair together” five people?
Terrycloth
Harry is more bi sexual than straight… He doesn’t care one way or the other what you write about him..His “Sign of the times ” song was brilliant ..of the other 4 he has the best solo career.