Babygate

Babygate is a term used by One Direction fans to describe the events, fan theories and controversies relating to Louis Tomlinson and Briana Jungwirth having a son together.
People who believe Babygate is a conspiracy, usually because they believe Larry is Real, dispute one or several of the following aspects: that Louis is the boy's father, that Briana is the boy's mother, that Briana and Louis ever had sex, or that Briana was ever pregnant.
==History==
In July 2015, the news broke via an unnamed source in People Magazine that Louis Tomlinson was expecting a child with Briana Jungwirth, a relative unknown in the fandom.Louis Tomlinson Is Going to Be a Dad! One Direction Star Expecting Baby with Briana Jungwirth, People Magazine, July 14, 2015Who is Briana Jungwirth? 5 Things to Know About the Mother of Louis Tomlinson's Baby! Posted 14 Jul 2015. Accessed 11 Nov 2019.
The lack of immediate official confirmation from the band or its entourage left a vacuum for fans to fill with theories.
On July 19, Simon Cowell confirmed the news to The Sun.The Sun Simon Cowell Interview, July 19, 2015
On August 4, 2015, Louis officially confirmed the news during a Good Morning America live interview.
The child was born in January 2016.Louis Tomlinson confirms that he has become a dad, BBC.com, January 23, 2016
===Fan Reaction===
The article announcing the pregnancy was a cause of outrage among Larries who viewed it as a ploy by Management to disprove and/or cover up the Larry Is Real theory. Those fans came up with a multitude of theories to show that the baby was not Louis', for example the fact that the article came out before the end of the mother's first trimester, as if the two had chosen to announce the news themselves.champagneboyband-blog tumblr post, July 14, 2015
Numerous pieces were written in mainstream media outlets about the outcry and ensuing conspiracy theories.Louis Tomlinson Is Going To Be A Dad And The Larry Shippers Are Freaking Out, posted on mtv.com on July 14, 2015.Are Louis Tomlinson Baby Rumors Fake? 1D Fans On Twitter Are Pretty Certain That’s The Case, posted on bustle.com on July 14, 2015.
Before the news was confirmed, some Larry tinhats declared their intention to unstan if the baby was real.For many in the fandom, the use of the phrase "tinhat" in references to Larries is considered objectionable. See and the counter-responses and However, the nature of tinhatting means that all confirmations - Louis' own confirmation, Simon Cowell's confirmation, pictures of the pregnant mother etc. - can be dismissed as "not real enough" by a motivated-enough believer, allowing them to safely continue believing:
Once the baby was born, some Larries became determined to prove by any means necessary that Babygate was manufactured. One such fan posted a copy of the baby's birth certificate on her tumblr and described driving three hours to get it from the county clerk's office., 17 Feb 2016. 1948 notes as of 21 Feb 2016.
Non-Larry fans were critical of these actions:
Other Larries launched a smear campaign against Briana that included claiming she appeared in a sex tape and then tweeting one of Louis' younger sisters with screenshots of the porn in question., 18 Feb 2016.
Some Larries accepted the fact that Louis had a baby,See post-birth anon asks from former Larries on exlarriesupportgroup and confessionsofexlarries. but plenty more came up with alternate theories as to how the baby and pregnancy could be a PR stunt. by thetruthaboutonedirection on Tumblr, 10 April 2016. As of 6 July 2023, this tumblr post has 4,574 notes. Many tinhats say that until Louis takes a paternity test they refuse to believe Louis is the father.
As narryhadalittleliam put it:
As of Oct 2021, a search for "Babygate" on Twitter yielded recent results from people who still believed that Louis' child wasn't his.Twitter Search for "Babygate". Accessed 11 Nov 2019.
===larrystylinsonreceipts===
larrystylinsonreceipts was a popular Larrie Tumblr blog run by Jennfur, stylesforstiles and others that was started in early 2016 to "debunk babygate" and prove that they "weren't crazy". The blog shared various anonymous testimonials, some of which garnered thousands of notes and were still circulating on Tumblr years later.For example: , 25 January 2016. Reblogged by lighthouselou, 23 December 2023. As of 16 March 2024, this Tumblr post has 3270 notes. In late February (February 22?, 22 February 2016. As of 17 March 2024, this tumblr post has 11 notes.) larrystylinsonreceipts deactivated after making a goodbye post (with only 170 notes as of 2024) explaining that they had been harassed after being falsely accused of hacking Louis's friend Oli's Facebook account. According to larrystylinsonreceipts, someone else (a friend of theirs) had done it and sent them a collection of screenshots. larrystylinsonreceipts did not want to reveal the name of the hacker due to the likelihood of their being harassed as well.
According to anti-larries, the screenshots larrystylinsonreceipts received proved that Louis was, in fact, a father, and that larrystylinsonreceipts discovering that Larry wasn't real after all was what caused them to be immediately ostracized from the fandom., 22 February 2016., 9 June 2017. As of 17 March 2024, this tumblr post has 12 notes.
In 2024, direct evidence of the backlash against larrystylinsonreceipts has become difficult to find, but a few critical tweets from other Larries can still be found. After the blog was deleted, someone else acquired the URL and used it to express their feelings about two of the former admins: The blog is now titled "Jen and Robyn can go fuck themselves" with subtitle "fake asses louis hater Jennfur and Stylesforstiles". (Accessed 17 March 2024.) bulletprooflarry, a big larrie, posted a rant about how suspicious it was that "The only people who manage to 'hack' Louis confirm public narratives" and called out Jennfur as a Louis hater. by bulletprooflarry, 23 February 2016. As of 17 March 2024, this tumblr post has 409 notes. In addition to being accused of being Louis haters and Gryles supporters, tweet by LarryEvakAsFk, 22 February 2016., tweet by louisismyson, 18 March 2016., tweet by matchingtattlou, 22 February 2016., larrystylinsonreceipts was accused of having become anti-larries or having been anti-larries in disguise all along, 22 February 2016., , tweets by tomlindrea (machine translated), 18 March 2016.. Meanwhile, Tumblr anti-larries were annoyed that the larrystylinsonreceipts admins apparently did not stop believing that Larry was real, despite the evidence they uncovered. 
For some anti-larries, the backlash against larrystylinsonreceipts was evidence of Larries being in a cult:
==Babygate Theories==
For those who believe part or all of the story to be fake, there are many variations on the Babygate theory, such as:
* The pregnancy was entirely faked as a PR stunt, (deleted) Tumblr post by adifferentkindofson, posted April 15, 2016
* Briana was pregnant but someone other than Louis was the father
* Briana is a gold-digger (a theory which calls to mind the frequent Character Bashing of women in fandom)
* Louis and Harry had a child with Briana as a surrogate
* Louis was the victim of a PR stunt to cover up his sexuality
* Louis was the victim of a PR stunt to "raise his profile" as a precursor to the reveal of Larry being real, a theory that involved Management creating and spreading mpreg manips of Harry to seed the idea of Larry, posted to Tumblr by bethaboolou, 18 July 2015, with 4,506 notes as of Jan 14, 2016.
* the baby in photos was a silicone Reborn doll. by Ellie Woodward, Buzzfeed, 7 Apr 2016 accessed 2016-04-08
* pictures of the baby with Louis were photoshopped., tumblr post by lolthepicisfake, posted February 20, 2016, tumblr post by mycitybythebay on louisshomesharry's blog, posted January 28, 2016, tumblr post by patrochilarry on alltheselights' blog, posted February 19, 2016, tumblr post submitted by onmykneesforlarry to lhrry, posted January 28, 2016, tumblr post by yourssincerelylarry from alltheselights' blog, posted February 20, 2016, tumblr post by yourssincerelylarry on alltheselights' blog, posted February 19, 2016, tumblr post submitted by leaderlouis to larriesfc on louisshomesharry's blog, posted January 28, 2016, tumblr post by wubwubnparmaham on bulletprooflarry's blog, posted on February 19, 2016, tumblr post by whisperedlouis on alltheselights' blog, posted February 19, 2016
* the baby was a child actor hired by Modest, the band's management company
* Brianna's cousin Tammi was the real mother and Tammi's husband Brett the real father
* the baby's birth certificate was a fake
===Arguments===
To support these various theories, arguments analysed the content of social media posts by the band, Briana and her family and various people who worked for the band, Tumblr post by liloheart, 21 January 2017. the behaviour of the band on stage during concerts,, Tumblr post by loueii on sloumate's blog, posted July 18, 2015, tumblr ask answered by birdcage-liner, reblogged by adifferentkindofson, Jan. 22 2016. the costumes of Rainbow Bondage Bear, the length of Louis' hair in pictures, tumblr post by bananastagram, Jan 29, 2016. Reblogged by 1dstuntsarchive. and much more.
Many masterposts were compiled. by obviouslygenuinely, posted 23 January 2021. As of 6 July 2023, this tumblr post has 945 notes. Note that "non-larry perspective" means that they tried to avoid larry-related proofs as sources; obviouslygenuinely, as is clear to insiders from their username, is/was a larrie.BABYGATE IN PICTURES by tellmethisisnotlove (date?)
===Retrospectives===
In 2022, twopoppies, a larrie, contrasted her current views on Babygate with what larries believed in 2015/2016. Twopoppies assumes that Babygate is a PR stunt and that Louis is not the father:
==Notes and References==
===Notes===
===References===
Category:One Direction Fandom Glossary
Category:Fan Theories
Category:Glossary
Category:2015 Events
Category:2016 Events