'Euphoria' Airs Animated Sex Scene Between One Direction Singers

An animated sequence featuring a graphic sex scene between One Direction’s Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson has drawn the ire of a number of 1D fans after it aired as part of an episode of the teen drama Euphoria on Sunday night.

The scene is a rendering of a fan fiction written by one of the characters, Kat, who narrates their, um, activities.

“Something that I thought was a fascinating or exciting idea was to take this burgeoning curiosity about sexuality that’s ultimately framed through the lens of fan fiction and allow it to come to life,” Euphoria showrunner Sam Levinson said.

“It’s sort of what Kat’s dream would be if she could see an animation of one of her stories. That was the impetus behind it. It’s sort of allowing her wishes to come true.”

But while fan fiction is often a safe place for young fans to explore sexuality, as Levinson said, there has long been a debate even in that space as to whether writing about sexual encounters between celebrities, as opposed to writing about fictional characters, is appropriate.

And many fans upset by the scene feel that taking that a step further and actually animating real people and having those avatars for them engage in sexual acts is an invasion of privacy for Tomlinson and Styles.

Moreover, the debate around the scene has brought up an old argument between One Direction fans, with some claiming the "Larry" fans who write fan fic between the two have always taken it too far and are to blame for a scene like this hitting the mainstream. But fan fic writers say it's a TV show co-opting fan fic and making everyone uncomfortable that ultimately reflects badly on fandom.

Either way, it's messy af.

While Styles hasn’t commented on the scene so far, Tomlinson confirmed on Twitter that he did not have any say in its existence.

Yikes.