Bullshit 1.0

On September 16, 2012, Louis Tomlinson posted a tweet calling the Larry Is Real theory "the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard." For One Direction fans who believe this theory (that Harry and Louis are in a secret relationship in real life), this tweet was a seminal event within the fandom. However, it did not stop them from believing.
These fans, who would later be known as larries, originally referred to this event as the bullshit tweet, but renamed it to Bullshit 1.0 after a 2014 series of tweets they felt was related enough to call Bullshit 2.0. 
==Sequence of Events==
===The Original Tweet===
It began with:
The tweet received a number of supportive replies from fans telling Louis to ignore the "haters". It also received a number of replies from fans who chose (whether seriously or jokingly) to interpret "ridiculous conspiracy theories" as referring to the notion that Louis was straight, or to his relationship with Eleanor.
===The Bullshit Tweet===
Twitter user skyleridk, who believed in the Larry is Real conspiracy theory, then tweeted, "funny that no matter what happens they will never deny Larry". 
Louis then replied to the fan's tweet. This is the "bullshit tweet":
===Subsequent Tweets===
Louis posted several followup tweets, including:
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*According to screencaps preserved on Tumblr, the tweet he was referring to said, "shut the fuck up with your lovely bullshit you're the biggest fuck up stay the fuck out of this". , reblogged 30 April 2016.
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==Fan Responses==
===Larries vs. Nonlarries===
One Direction fans who did not believe in Larry (non-larries) took Louis's tweets at face value: Louis's girlfriend and family had been receiving harassing messages from the fans who believed that Larry was real, and Louis was angry with those fans, did not consider them real fans, and wanted them to stop engaging in their conspiracy theories. 
Larries, who may not have been aware of what Louis was reacting to, felt that the tweets were intended to show that they were no longer welcome in the fandom. However, they also believed that the tweets were not written by Louis, anon ask answered by kindathoughtprovoking, tumblr post, 30 May 2015. As of 22 December 2021, this tumblr post has 1179 notes. and started referring to "@Louis_Tomlinson" as a separate entity."It’s Louis_Tomlinson tweeting. We have to remember that. His twitter account is a propaganda mouth piece and has been since 16th of september 2012." , 31 October 2023. As of 15 January 2024, this Tumblr post has 30 notes.
The issue was heavily covered in the mainstream media in the following days, with a Vice article 26 Sep 2012. (Accessed 11 Sep 2019) seeming to capture the prevailing sentiment: "Then there are the Larry Stylinson fans, who seem at war with reality itself."
Many people outside the fandom agreed.
Some larries threatened self-harm. Some deleted their social media accounts. From larries' point of view, the bullying of Larries within in the fandom grew more intense. (From non-larries' point of view, it was the larries who had been bullying people. A look at old social media posts suggests there was plenty of dickish behavior on all sides and no assumption of good faith on any side.For example, this tumblr post by a larrie seems to suggest that bullying includes "reblogging my posts with insulting comments/tags" along with more seriously out of line behavior like sending death threats. Non-larries are inclined to be skeptical about claims by larries of bullying and often assume that what they really mean is "disagreed with me about Larry".) One Tumblr larrie expressed the view that non-larries may have been just as much victims as larries because One Direction's management had tricked them into it: "they’ve been bullied into bullying us, they’re not really the enemy - they’re just another kind of victim (they’ve played with these people: with their naiveté, their wish to please the boys and their goal of being 'true fans').", 9 March 2015. (Accessed 8 Sep 2019.)
As one Larry fan recounted:
And also said:
This moment represented not just the most definitive rejection of Larries to date, but for many was also the event that broke their already waning belief in the authenticity of the public representations of the band's members. (See #Academic_Response below.)
===The View from LiveJournal===
At the time of Bullshit 1.0, LiveJournal hosted some One Direction discussion communities, including an anon meme, onedanon, that was inhabited by older fans more likely to use terms like "tinhat". Anonymous fans on onedanon reacted to Louis's tweets, but also reacted to the fannish reactions on tumblr and twitter. They reported on some of what they saw as outlandish responses from tinhats, as well as commenting on how they saw other non-believing fans reacting poorly--some rival shippers expressed joy that the Larry ship was sunk, people mocked believers or told them to kill themselves, and the "sensible adult" Larry shippers complained that Louis's tweets were causing the harassment of believers. Some of the posts onedanon quoted or linked to are now preserved only on the anonmeme. 
The initial thread, titled , included a mix of comments where people expressed joy at tinhats getting their comeuppance, hope that some might wake up from their irrational beliefs, and astonishment at the tinhats' reactions.
===skyleridk===
Larries believe that Louis Tomlinson replying to a random fan account who had not tagged him was suspicious; some pointed out that this means it had to have been intentionally searched for and so may indicate that the denial was pre-planned. For larries, it also represents an example of the complicated nature of the fourth wall in the age of social media, as some fans consider tweets that do not tag the celebrities they are talking about to exist in a private fandom space. 
However, anti-larries have pointed out that the tweet "funny that no matter what happens they will never deny Larry" was not the first time skyleridk and Louis had tweeted at or about each other. Just six minutes earlier, Louis tweeted, "@skyleridk incorrect I block people who bad mouth the people I care about !" Tumblr anti got-stars-in-your-eyez commented,
===Fanfic Reactions===
* by butterflyishida on AO3 (September 16, 2012)
* by Kawaiicoyote (September 20, 2012)
* works tag on AO3
===I Ship Bullshit===
thumb|#ishipbullshit Twitter hashtag, September 2012
One effect of the tweet was the hashtag and meme I Ship Bullshit. The hashtag started the same day as the tweet in 2012 and was tweeted occasionally as late as 2021.Twitter Search for the hashtag #ishipbullshit, 12 January 2023: https://twitter***.com/search?q=%23ishipbullshit%20&src=typed_query&f=live
As documented in photos and video taken by fans present for the event, a fan gave a balloon with the words "I ship bullshit" written on it to Louis at a signing in Germany shortly after the bullshit tweet. One video clip, memorialized in gifs, showed Harry, who was sitting next to Louis, turn to Louis and ask him something; larries reported that he asked what the balloon said and Louis responded 'I ship bullshit'. Tweet by larry_evidences, 22 Aug 2015. (Accessed 16 Sep 2019) Like many 1D moments caught on film, it was turned into popular gifsets that circulated on Tumblr: Posted to tumblr by harryandnick on 23 September 2012. 23395 notes as of 12 January 2023.
The balloon incident can be described as a fourth wall violation, and was discussed by larries and other 1D fans, who had various interpretations of how Louis reacted based on the available fan video footage of the event. Some larries thought Harry and Louis looked happyFor example: , tweet by bouywithluv, 22 September 2012, while some anti-larries thought they didn't., reblogged by lrambling, 16 September 2017. On onedanon, it was discussed briefly during a longer thread about the event, onedanon, 22 September 2012. and again as a fourth wall violation, anonymous thread in onedanon, 22 September 2012.. Immediately after the event some 1D fans on twitter said they thought Louis looked like he wanted to punch the fan., tweet by chaandaniya, 22 September 2012., tweet by niallbubby, 22 September 2012., tweet by MalikInspired, 22 September 2012. From the vantage point of 2021, skepticalarrie on Tumblr commented that people would see what they wanted to see in Harry and Louis' facial expressions, but instead the clue was the fact that they seemed far too friendly with one another for "what is expected after Louis calling it 'bullshit'.", 8 June 2021. In 2013 one anti-larrie, analyzing the video footage, argued that Harry and Louis looked uncomfortable with the gift:
===Effect on Larrie Beliefs===
In 2016, Tumblr larrie srslycris, citing worshippedlove, argued that at the time of the tweet no one was harassing Eleanor and Larry shipping was "casual", that is, people didn't tinhat the ship., reblogged by thelarrative-blog, 12 September 2016. Anti-larries objected to these claims, pointing to available tweets showing harassment of Eleanor. (See Larry Is Real for examples of fans harassing Eleanor on twitter.) However, the state of tinhatting in 2012 was less clear. One larrie reblogging worshippedlove's original post added the tags, "#i got into the fandom in 2011 or 2012 #and i totally believed they were together from the beginning", reblog by twitteranti, 26 April 2016. lrambling, an anti-larrie, said,
If larries didn't know that that fans on twitter were harassing Eleanor, Louis's tweets would seem extremely aggressive and baffling. As thelarrative, an anti-larrie and former larrie, commented,
===Anniversaries, etc.===
thumb|larries and other 1D fans tweeting about the one-year anniversary of the bullshit tweet
The date became an anniversary of sorts. On the first anniversary, some fans tried to get the hashtag #1YearOfBullshitAndWereStillHere trending., tweet by louistops__, 15 September 2013. On the second anniversary, Harry made a few social media posts that got larries very excited. He tweeted "Actually, tell everyone", 16 September 2014. and posted a picture on his Instagram of two men wearing colorful flowered shirts, with the one-word caption "Strong"The original instagram post appears to have been deleted, but 1D fans reposted it on twitter and tumblr. Here is a tumblr example with ten thousand notes: . archive.ph. Here is a twitter example comparing Harry's tweet and instagram post side by side: . (Accessed 21 January 2023.), which happens to be the title of a 1D song that larries think is about Larry. (Note that this predates Twitter's threading functionality. Harry's previous tweet was "It's impossible to listen to @KaceyMusgraves too much. Don't tell anyone.", 16 September 2013.)
Some responses from Tumblr larries:
On the fourth anniversary, Louis's Instagram account banned mentions of "Larry"Or at least it was reported in the media on September 16: , because Larries had been posting large volumes of Larry-related comments on every Instagram post by Louis (and that of anyone else in his circle who had an instagram). Sometimes just the word "Larry", sometimes messages implying they thought they were speaking to management. After the "Larry" ban there were various workarounds. One that can still be seen as of 2019 is posting green and blue heart emojis (a larrie symbol for Harry/Louis). 
Larries were unimpressed by the ban:
On the ten-year anniversary, twitter larries thought it significant that Louis Tomlinson was photographed at an event wearing a blue and green jacket., tweet by 28satellitelou, 16 September 2022., tweet by signofthtimes28, 16 September 2022.
==Academic Response==
At least one academic wrote a paper specifically commenting on fan responses to Louis Tomlinson's 2012 bullshit tweet; Helena Louise Dare-Edwards, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Anglia's School of Film, Television, and Media, published a paper in the Forum section of the peer-reviewed journal Celebrity Studies entitled "‘Shipping bullshit’: Twitter rumours, fan/celebrity interaction and questions of authenticity."
Dare-Edwards describes larries' reading of the tweets:
Dare-Edwards also reports on larries' analysis that the bullshit tweet was premeditated and therefore suspect; Louis replying to a fan who hadn't @ mentioned him indicated that he "deliberately sought out a Tweeter in order to issue a premeditated denial and make an example of a Larry fan by way of warning to others."
Dare-Edwards is cited by Scott Interrante for his musicology masters' thesis posted to the tumblr account onedirectionthesis between June and August 2016.
== Notes and References ==
=== Notes ===
=== References ===
Category:One Direction Fandom Glossary
Category:Twitter
Category:2012 Events
Category:2012 Twitter