Louis Tomlinson Slams Claim That Gay Rumors Broke One Direction Up

Former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson has snapped back at a recent article suggesting one of the reasons the group broke up was the fans shipping him with Harry Styles.

The Mirror posted an article this week in which they cited Larry Stylinson (a portmanteau of Harry and Louis’s names) fan fiction as a reason for the two singers falling out, and the band's eventual dissolution.

“Louis, in particular, was extremely sensitive about the claims and admitted the speculation about their sexuality ‘created an atmosphere,” the article says.

It also notes a well-known quote from fellow One Directioner, and the first to leave the band, Zayn Malik: “It’s not funny, and it still continues to be quite hard for them. They won’t naturally go put their arm around each other because they’re conscious of this thing that’s going on, which is not even true.”

While the other boys have not commented on the tabloid, which also cited drug use and rivalry as reasons the band broke up, Louis took to Twitter to set the record straight.

“Biggest load of bullshit I’ve seen in a while,” he wrote. “Typical unprovoked venom from The Mirror. Couldn’t be further from the truth!”

It’s not the first time Louis has lashed out at his (fictional) private life being publicly exploited recently.

The HBO teen drama Euphoria aired an animated oral sex scene supposed to be between him and Harry at the end of June. The sequence was a character’s fan fiction brought to life, and was reportedly fairly graphic.

The scene upset a lot of fans, who felt that using the boys’ likenesses in any kind of sexual encounter went way beyond mere shipping or fan fiction. Louis himself commented on Twitter: “I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.”

Tuesday July 23 officially marked nine years since One Direction’s formation on The X Factor.