Larry Stylinson and the Fourth Wall

The fourth wall, or lack thereof, in One Direction fandom has had a significant impact on the development of the slash ship Larry Stylinson and the fan theory that Larry Is Real. Larry Stylinson is the ship name for Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, the most popular ship in the RPF fandom and the subject of a popular conspiracy theory that the two are dating or married in real life.
1D fandom in general was famous (among other fandoms) for its non-existent fourth wall; on social media, fans interacted directly with not only the bandmembers themselves, but also anyone who was friends with or related to or worked with the band. Some interactions were merely embarrassing to other fans, but other fan behavior was outright rude, hostile or harassing. Everything about the fandom, including RPF and shipping, was highly visible on Twitter, and the band knew far more about fandom than many fans accustomed to traditional RPF fandom etiquette of maintaining a wall between fandom and celebrity subjects were comfortable with. It was impossible to keep One Direction RPF out of mainstream awareness, leading to the band being interviewed about it, journalists reporting on it, and even television shows like Euphoria filming Larry Stylinson fanfic.
Many fans who shipped Larry Stylinson also believed that their ship was real. These fans, often called Larries, brought public attention to their theories, frequently asking or even harassing bandmembers and their associates about it. Journalists reported extensively on fannish conspiracy theories about the band, creating a positive feedback loop reinforcing the beliefs of Larries. Public awareness of tinhats, shippers who believe that their ship are together in real life, has been a source of irritation in many fandoms, but Larry Stylinson shipping and tinhatting achieved an unprecedented level of visibility by Aja Romano, Vox, 16 Apr 2016. (Accessed 4 Sep 2019.). Unfortunately, the public at large did not care about the distinction between the shipping aspect and the conspiracy aspect, an additional source of pain for Larry shippers who did not want to be associated with the beliefs and actions of Larries.
There have been debates over who is ultimately responsible for the fourth wall breach, and Larries believe that their visibility is part of why the rest of the fandom is so hostile toward them.
== Band Response ==
The band members have been aware of Larry shipping since early on. In November 2010, while they were still on The X Factor, Harry Styles tweeted:
And, in April 2012, he said, "The fans call me and Louis 'Larry Stylinson' cause we get on really well."youtube clip of Harry saying, "The fans call me and Louis 'Larry Stylinson'" and gif set of the same by onedirectiones, archived, posted April 7, 2012. gifset of a video interview, archived, posted by 1dbromance to Tumblr May 31, 2012. MuchMusic interview on youtube
Some believe that the band members and/or their teams monitor fan Twitter trends, as well as what is what is often regarded as fandom-only space on Tumblr.
Because the Fourth Wall is easily broken by both sides in the age of social media, band members were aware of the Larry is Real theory by 2012. What's less clear is how deep their knowledge of specific Larrie theories goes. 
On the one hand, in 2023 Louis identified a seemingly innocuous tweet by a larrieAs of 10 February 2024, boyfriendspark's Twitter profile identifies her as a "larrie" (Accessed 10 February 2024.) asking him "louis how do you make chicken parmesan?", 31 October 2023. as a reference to the chicken parma theory, which he acknowledged in his reply: "You start by realising all these ridiculous childish theories and conspiracies are wasted time and energy and then just throw the chicken in the oven to be fair. Simple stuff", nitter copy, 31 October 2023. (This incident became known as Chickengate or Parmageddon by Larries.) However, Larries go much further, arguing that the band knows all the Larrie theories and deploys Larrie symbols on purpose as a signal to the fandom. Examples include Harry wearing a blue bandana and Louis getting a dagger tattoo.
Tumblr anti-larrie lrambling commented,
===History===
====Early History: Bromance====
Fans have commented that in the early days, One Direction appeared not to mind fans' shipping of Harry and Louis's "bromance" and may have encouraged it with fanservice. Anti-Larries have argued that some of the evidence used by Larries to support their theories may actually be fanservice and that fans' positive response to Harry/Louis interactions encouraged them to continue and play it up.See . , tumblr announcement post, 2 March 2021. As of 5 December 2021, this tumblr post has 87 notes.
Tweets from the boys and their families appeared to encourage it. (Tumblr larrie bulletprooflarry went as far as suggesting that Harry and his sister popularized or originated the term "Larry Stylinson" itself, 22 June 2016., but this idea is not widely accepted.) According to Helena Louise Dare-Edwards, a fan studies scholar:
====2012: A Changed Direction====
thumb|Most recent tweets sent from Harry to Louis as of January 2024
thumb|Most recent tweets sent from Louis to Harry as of January 2024
Starting in mid-to-late 2012, Harry and Louis's public behavior changed; they became less physically close with each other at concerts and in interviews, stopped tweeting at each other, and eventually stopped interacting with each other in public entirely. Whereas in the early years Harry and Louis hugging was a frequent occurrence, their hug at the end of the last One Direction concert in 2015 was surprising and unusual enough to be the subject of fannish discussion and was referred to ever after as "the larry hug". In 2012 the change happened quickly enough that the whole fanbase noticed it, and non-larries blamed larries for ruining their friendship by not only posting conspiracy theories where the band could see them, but also actively harassing Louis and Harry's families and girlfriends. See Visibility and Harassment. 
Louis somewhat confirmed this view in various interviews:
Larries don't believe they are at fault., anon ask answered by bulletprooflarry, 4 May 2018. As of 14 January 2024, this tumblr post has 8 notes., 19 July 2016. As of 14 January 2024, this Tumblr post has 19 notes., 3 November 2023. As of 15 January 2024, this Tumblr post has 9 notes. From larries' point of view, the band had changed from seeming to welcome Larry fans to actively discouraging them, and they suggested that the change in attitude was due to an intentional rebranding instigated by the band's management. Bullshit 1.0, for example, coincided with the first week of promo of their second album.
No Stunts Magazine explains the larrie view that management rebranded to appeal to a homophobic American audience and was also the source of the non-larrie explanation for what had happened:
Larries believe that Louis's interview answers were forced upon him or altered by management, who were also responsible for physically separating Harry and Louis. Some Larries even believe that management had attempted to convince the general public that Harry and Louis were enemies, though Tumblr user hiddensymposiarch, who was still a Larrie at the time, asserted in 2015 that the "enemies" idea was really just an inside joke among Larries, who witnessed other fans concluding that H/L weren't friends anymore and made memes contrasting the idea of them being "enemies" with the photographic evidence that they were in fact quite friendly., anon ask answered by hiddensymposiarch, 17 February 2015. As of 14 January 2024, this Tumblr post has 452 notes. If hiddensymposiarch was correct at the time, it's not clear that larries in later years got the joke. Tumblr and Twitter examples 2020-2023:
*"Unlike with Larry, Zayn and Liam haven't been painted as enemies." (2020), 23 August 2020.
*"larry partying in 2014, the year that their enemies narrative was at it's peak, and just hugging in a 'friendly way' in a bar when they were in rio. got it 👍🏻" (2020), 25 December 2020.
*"Those familiar with my blog know about separate narratives well Larry didn’t get a separate narrative they got an 'enemies' narrative. When the rumors got too big about them they got shoved farther into the closet, they rarely interacted, they weren’t seen together and rumors were spread through managements favorite gossip newspapers that they were feuding and hated each other." (2020), 2 June 2020.
*"this was the biggest glitch in 'larry is enemies' narrative" (2021), 11 February 2021.
*"I noticed some young fans don't fully understand that we're 100% not joking when we talk about that." (2021), 11 December 2021.
*"however 1ds management went with the the narrative that their friendship is growing apart and h&l started disliking each other because of larry rumors mOrTaL eNeMiEs remember ? this is the reason some idiots still use the 'larries ruined their their friendship' argument." (2021), 29 Jun 2021.
*"No cause 2015 unseens always look like harry & louis are closer than ever and happiest. It's like the biggest slap to everyone who bought into the 'oh they're enemies now' narrative" (2021), 15 Aug 2021.
*"Well if Larry was not a thing and we're wrong it means 1dHQ was right and Harry and Louis are mortal enemies and Larries ruined their friendship. So. I think you are not understanding. Bye bye." (2021), 17 Nov 2021.
*"1DHQ went as far as spreading this narrative that they hated each other in the press, promo, gossip articles and sites." (2023), 15 May 2023. As of 15 January 2024, this Tumblr post has 33 notes.
Tumblr anti-larrie larriefails argued that the idea of Harry and Louis being enemies was a straw man created by Larries themselves:
====Denials====
Many fans on social media have asked the band members about Larry; they've also asked some of the band's friends, family members, girlfriends, and friends and family of girlfriends where social media accounts were known. Some responded to fan questions. Likely because fans were asking about itFor example, in the MuchMusic video of May 31, 2012, the interviewer says "The fans wanted me to ask about Larry Stylinson." See timestamp 16:00 , youtube video uploaded by wandaiVIDS, 2 June 2012. or because Larry talk was ubiquitous on social media, journalists and others have also asked the band about it in interviews. As a result, the band and their friends and family have all gone on the record saying that Larry isn't real. Larries refer to these incidents as "Larry denials", argue that many of them aren't really denials, and generally don't believe that they are truthful statements. Tumblr anti-larries have compiled many of these denials into a masterpost: Louis, Harry, Family and Friends’ Denials of Larry (as a Whole or as a Theory) and Confirmation of Elounor, archive.is copy. Updated 13 August 2017, reblogged by toobadforthefacts. Original post by 1arry-isnt-rea1 deleted..
Larries believe that the band's management told at least some of the interviewers in advance to ask about Larry in order to prompt the band to issue a denial:
In tracing the change in H/L's public behavior, Larries often cite the September 2012 tweet they call Bullshit 1.0 as a major turning point; Louis Tomlinson tweeted, "Larry is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. I'm happy why can't you accept that." 
Larries felt some of these denials were derisive in tone, implying that fans who believe that Larry is real were delusional and unwelcome as fans. Larries were deeply upset by these denials, but came up with rationales for why the denials were illegitimate. 
In November 2013, for example, a print article reported posted 25 Nov 2013. (Accessed 11 Sep 2019):
Larries have argued that denials in print or on twitter could be discounted because without video proof, the statement could have been made by or edited by the band's management. (See management tweets theory.) However, by 2017, when Louis denied Larry on camera in a video interview with Dan Wootton, danwootton on Facebook, archive.is copy, 21 July 2017. (on Twitter Wootton said, "I will ask him ON VIDEO about Larry. To shut you all up once and for all.", 19 July 2017.), Larries analyzed the footage and determined that he was sending a coded message through, for example, his use of the word "oBvIoUsLy". Louis's video denial of Larry is now another Larry proof., tweet by stylinarts (quote-tweet of Dan Wootton's tweet), 23 Aug 2022. As of 10 February 2024, this quote-tweet has 96 retweets, 1525 likes, and 36 bookmarks. archive.today copy.
====="Gaslighting"=====
Larries believe that the evidence for Larry being real is so clear and obvious that the denials amount to an attempt by management to "gaslight" them into doubting their own eyes. They have interpreted the denials as evidence that Larry is real; they assume that management orchestrated the denials, so why spend so much effort on denying it if it isn't true? Other fans, journalists, and band members' friends and family have all called Larries crazy or delusional or conspiracy theorists or cultish, and Larries believe so strongly in Larry being self-evident that they assume this is all part of management's gaslighting., 17 August 2023. As of 15 January 2024, this Tumblr post has 3 notes. Furthermore, Larries believe that management's gaslighting of the fandom was incredibly "aggressive" and caused other fans to see Larries as acceptable targets for harassment and bullying. 
A Larrie who claims to work in public relations wrote:
One example of a response to Larrie theories that Larries consider misdirection at best"i'm sad about what gemma replied about larry not being real". Accessed 31 Aug 2019. and gaslighting at worst occurred on Tumblr in April 2014. Harry's sister posted this since-deleted reply to an ask: 
While sending the involved parties asks like this is met with disapproval in some corners of the Larry fandom who feel either that the fourth wall should be maintained or that they are not entitled to private details of their personal lives, the ask still happened. 
Other fans have argued that Larries are the ones gaslighting themselves:
*"larries have been gaslighting themselves for 4 years and they have the nerve to blame an out celebrity for their own stupidity lmfao" (2017), 12 Jan 2017.
*"harry styles™️ is just another way for larries to strip harry from who he actually is so he can fit their narrative and keep gaslighting other larries into believing he is living a lie and a horrible controlled life" (2020), 23 Nov 2020.
*"the way larries just keep gaslighting and lying to each other so that they can all continue to believe in their made up ship" (2022), 5 Dec 2022.
Or even trying to gaslight others:
*"daisy is 13. I've seen the worst type of gaslighting in her comments whenever she stands up against larries. 'we just want the best for your brother is that wrong? we just think harry is better for him than any girl.' this is real." (2018), 3 Jan 2018.
*"Larries at their finest gaslighting the LGBTQ+ Community. They keep pretending no one has spoken out about how their nasty ship makes us feel, and why they're wrong. This is what a delousi0nal pathological liar cult is." (2023), 19 Aug 2023.
*"larries trying to gaslight sane people into thinking larry is real the way they gaslit themselves" (2023), Jul 10, 2023.
*"The level of gaslighting that larries are trying to do with queer louies is INSANE" (2023), 31 Oct 2023.
Meanwhile, other fans have argued that Larries' use of the term "gaslighting" was offensive:
Many Larries have expressed frustration with what they see as the band first teasing the possibility of Larry when it was advantageous, but then turning around and implying that Larries were crazy conspiracy theorists for believing what they were marketed: 
Some Larries may have channeled this frustration into harassing the people who'd issued denials. Meanwhile, larries maintain that management's gaslighting worked. Tumblr larrie lapelosa wrote that:
Larries say this has resulted in a number of Larries becoming ex-Larries, Houies or simply leaving the fandom. However, they also say that denials (and even the announcement of that Louis was expecting a baby) that have been covered by the mainstream media have also led curious outsiders to investigate Larry Stylinson and become Larries. Some have expressed that this was due to what they saw as puzzling inconsistencies in the way they were handled.
== Social Media Visibility and Harassment==
:See also Larry Visibility and Harassment, One Direction Fandom Wars - Twitter Fans vs Everyone
On social media sites many Larries have harassed the people they believe are involuntarily closeting them. Since one theme of some corners of the Larry fandom is that they are supporting Harry and Louis and helping them fight the Big Gay War against the contract thought to be keeping them in the closet, fans may be justifying abusive comments on the social media accounts of supposed Modest! employees (including friends and family) as a way of showing Modest! that closeting is unnecessary and counterproductive. According to an anon confession on 7 Feb 2016 at confessionsofexlarries: "I used to send awful things to Eleanor because I thought that she would quit and Louis would be able to come out if she did that."
Because of the very public nature of social media, the Larries who directly harass the band and their associates are some of the most visible One Direction fans and have become the main representation of Larry fandom to other fans and to the public at large. It may be that the harassers represent only a minority of fans who believe that Larry is real, but at its peak the One Direction fanbase was so large that even a small percent of accounts engaging in harassment would have been overwhelming.
There is a wide range of opinions in the Larry side of the fandom regarding what constitutes appropriate social media or public interactions in a real person fandom, and many Larries have spoken out against social media harassment. Some fans keep all their fandom activity on Tumblr, avoiding services such as Twitter and Instagram where the band members and their families are present. (One exception is Harry's sister, Gemma, who has a Tumblr account and has responded to asks about Larry Stylinson; see Gaslighting above). Some avoid having fandom Twitter accounts entirely as the band members themselves are on there and sometimes tracking. Many will intentionally avoid commonly tracked tags on Tumblr, such as One Direction, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, Larry Stylinson, though this may be more due to attempting to avoid attention from anti-Larries and sometimes with the knowledge that many non-Larries prefer not to be exposed to Larry content. 
Some have suggested that an impetus behind Rainbow Direction, beyond supporting LGBTQ+ Directioners, may have been giving fans who thought that Harry and Louis were being victimized by their management a more productive way of expressing support than social media harassment. on 27 Apr 2013.
Some people, however, have argued that, even if they are not engaging in it themselves, fans (especially Big Larries) who talk about Harry and Louis being forcibly closeted may be responsible for inciting others to engage in harassment.
A number of anti-Larries have expressed that breaches of the fourth wall social media harassment are some of their main motivations:
The band members' as well as their friends and families' social media feeds have also frequently been inundated with comments about Larry.youhaveacoolurl's reblog June 9, 2014: a Larrie's post describing being blocked on Instagram and subsequently calling a friend of the band a douchebag. (archived) (Accessed June 10, 2014)See Nick Grimshaw's page for more information on this subject. Sometimes these are composed of just the word "Larry" or blue and green hearts. Louis's instagram banned mentioning the word "Larry" in 2016, E! Online, 16 September 2016.
==Concerts==
The visibility of Larrie theories at concerts is another type of fourth-wall break.
===Posters===
Many Larries have brought Larry-related posters to One Direction's concerts. In June 2012 an anon on Tumblr joked about "The awkward moment when i hold up a larry poster near eleanor at a 1D concert..#yolo", 17 June 2012., and in November 2012 a Twitter fan commented, "When someone brought a Larry poster to a concert, everyone yelled at her", 23 Nov 2012., but Larry concert posters were discussed on Twitter more frequently in 2013 and 2014. In May 2013 a rumor circulated that Louis gave the middle finger to a Larry sign (the girl holding the sign allegedly said she gave him the middle finger first, so he wasn't actually responding to the content of the sign), tweet by spitofyoou, 2 May 2013., onedanon thread, 3 May 2013., 2nd May 2013., and another rumor circulated among Larries that Management had ordered Larry signs to be confiscated, tweet by paprikasniall, 29 September 2013., tweet by elleleighxo, 1 August 2013., 29 April 2013.. Someone allegedly handed out Larry posters at the June 25, 2014, concert, and everyone on Twitter had an opinion about it., tweet by nam2seokline, 25 June 2014., tweet by desirablelovers, 25 June 2014., tweet by yearsinthedark, 25 June 2014., tweet by samuraincraig, 25 June 2014., tweet by swirlyhair, 25 June 2014., tweet by zaynfthvrry, 25 June 2014.
These posters have been a source of friction in the fandom, with many other fans objecting to their presence, for a variety of reasons., tweet by B00B13zz, Apr 30, 2014. Some fans said they were disturbed just to encounter Larry tinhatting in the real world."and that's what's so scary and sad - they basically live in an alternate reality. and when i see the things some people are doing, like hanging up larry posters, bringing larry-centric signs etc. to the shows, it creeps me out to see that this isn't only online." , 8 July 2016. Others argued that Larries were forcing a sexuality or a relationship onto Harry and Louis"Because trying to force a relationship on people when they declared that they arent in a relationship isn’t right" , August 9, 2015, tweet by helloitseesha, Mar 11, 2015, tweet by changingswiftly, Jun 23, 2015 or that it was "disrespectful"., tweet by bIueIightdreams, Jun 23, 2015 Some fans objected on the grounds that if Larry were true, the signs were outing them., tweet by FlRSTALBUM, 31 July 2015., , , , tweets by neverletgoHxrry, 25 Jun 2014. Post-One Direction, fans on social media have continued to argue over the appropriateness of bringing Larry signs to Louis's solo concerts., tweet by lumoony28, Aug 29, 2023., tweet by lovelyvoice369, 14 August 2022., tweet by luckyagainel, 18 February 2022. Even some Larries have argued that Larry signs at Louis concerts are disrespectful., tweet by 94lousflicker, Aug 23, 2020.
Other Larries have argued that the sexual signs brought to concerts by "het girls" are much worse than the Larry signs."There’s a sign that says “nut in this pussy” but larries signs are gross?" , 8 August 2015., tweet by DORlTOTACOS, Aug 23, 2015, tweet by otrafest, 23 February 2015., tweet by larenttrap, 8 August 2015., tweet by RebeccaLK1075, 17 September 2021, tweet by f1barzal, 9 July 2015.
Larry signs have been projected onto the big screen at concerts and Liam in particular has read a number of them out loud ("Investigate Wellington", "Always in My Heart", "my first real crush was Louis Tomlinson"). Clips of Liam saying, "Investigate Wellington, what does that mean?" at an August 2015 concert in Baltimore were shared all over twitter., 8 August 2015., 9 August 2015. The clips include fans at the concert screaming excitedly in response to his comment, but fans on twitter also seemed very excited, with some posting cryptic memes about Harry and Louis knowing the references and being reluctant to explain it to Liam., 9 August 2015., 9 August 2015., 9 August 2015. Other fans thought Liam was only pretending not to recognize the reference and had purposefully read a Larry sign out loud., tweet by Updates1D_x3, 8 Aug 2015., tweet by DRYFLOWEROX, 9 August 2015."Hahaha Liam got away with a lot in that particular bit and we still appreciate it all these years later hahaha" , 23 May 2021., tweet by sanity_taken, 9 August 2015. by ninicutiepie, 9 August 2015. As of 19 March 2024, this tumblr post has 4642 notes. ("Investigate Wellington" is a reference to a 2012 Larry proof where Harry and Louis were filmed at a bar in Wellington, but with a very bad camera from very far away, so fans disagree on what happened in the video.)
Other fans reacted differently to Liam reading the signs aloud:
===Flags===
A number of Larries brought Larry signs along with rainbow flags to concerts. The fan project Rainbow Direction, which encouraged fans to bring rainbows to concerts, was the subject of controversy over whether it was a Larrie project (the founders and many participants are Larries) and whether fans who participated in the project did so to support Larry or to support LGBTQ+ fans. (The Rainbow Direction controversy relates to longstanding criticisms against Larries for misrepresenting how LGBTQ+ activism works and harming queer fans.) Non-larries who attended concerts complained that they saw fans with both Larry signs and Rainbow Direction stuff; when Liam Payne was quoted in a 2015 interview saying he thought a lot of the rainbow flags at the concerts were due to Larry, this was taken as further evidence of Rainbow Direction's failure to divorce itself from Larry. 
Harry has frequently picked up flags brought by fans and waved them around onstage, a habit that has continued in his solo concert tours. Some of the flags are pride flagsExample: , uploaded to youtube by baby.bat, 5 September 2015., and Harry waving them has meant a lot to LGBTQ+ fans. He has also waved country flags., 23 May 2022. , 3 August 2022. At the June 23, 2015 Gothenburg concert he picked up a Swedish flag that had the Always In My Heart tweet printed on the other side; videos and gifs circulated widely, with some Larries concluding this was evidence for Larry being real, other fans arguing that he looked annoyed in the videos, and still others arguing that it wasn't clear whether he even noticed what was printed on the back.
Some Larries thought that Harry waving rainbow flags onstage itself counted as a Larry fourth wall violation, because they believed that Harry was signaling with the flags that he was queer and in a relationship with Louis.For example, gifs of Harry waving rainbow flags at concert were included in a Larry evidence masterpost entitled , posted by stylesforstiles, 31 December 2015. As of 17 March 2024, this tumblr post has 7551 notes.
==Larry Stylinson in the Media==
As noted above, the lack of a fourth wall in 1D fandom led to fans asking the band and their associates about Larry, or asking interviewers to ask the band about Larry; the band responding to these questions meant that the topic of Larry became newsworthy and was covered in the press (because everything the band said or did was covered in the press). In the early years many fans expressed embarrassment or displeasure at interviewers for asking the band about Larry and bringing public attention to the Larry side of the fandom. Larries have argued that it's rude to put the band on the spot (in part because Larries believe that the band's denials are lies, so by asking the question, the interviewer is forcing the band to lie, tweet by cocksucklinson, 25 August 2013., tweet by newkidstempo, 19 Jul 2017. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by LittleStarsHalo, 15 Dec 2020. (Accessed 10 February 2024.)Response to an interviewer asking Harry about a fan theory that his song is about Louis: , tweet by opinionatedbish, 5 May 2017.). 
Larries have also complained that interviewers are violating Louis and Harry's privacy by asking questions about their personal lives instead of focusing on the music., tweet by S4NGYEONS, Jul 19, 2017. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by warsonpolitics, Jul 19, 2017. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by xlaurasmithxx, Jul 19, 2017. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by pranceharry, 21 Jul 2018. (Accessed 10 February 2024.) (Some Larries make it obvious that when they say "personal life", they are referring to Larry.In response to a Dan Wootton tweet , twitter account warsonpolitics said, . Same account in 2015: .)
Other fans have argued that Larries' opposition to interviewers asking about Larry is because Larries do not want to hear the answers., tweet by Chez_Tops_Kim, 20 Jul 2017. They believe that Larries are hypocritical for objecting on the grounds of privacy while continuing to post publicly about Larry., tweet by jadore_la_mer, 19 Jul 2017. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by ohyeahhii, 25 Sep 2018. (Accessed 10 February 2024.)
In 2020 one Larrie suggested, "Lets stop involving Louis’ family in Larry and stop asking everyone about it. If you really believed they are together now you wouldn’t need to ask every single person associated with Louis and Harry about it. All your doing is being rude and getting more denials.", 22 Dec 2020. (Accessed 10 February 2024.) 
Newsmedia articles about Larries and their beliefs have been published since at least 2012, but the airing of Crazy About One Direction may have pushed it into the spotlight. Crazy About One Direction was a documentary released in 2013 that followed a number of teenage One Direction fans. It was seen as mocking the fans and in particular Larries. Its airing is often considered the event that firmly brought Larry Stylinson into public awareness. It prompted extreme reactions on Twitter, including deletion of Larry fan accounts and unverified reports of suicide, and the director and fans that were featured became targets of harassment.
The director later wrote:
===Larrie Journalists?===
Meanwhile, some media outlets were publishing some very Larrie-friendly articles, like "Harry Styles Hints That He Is Bisexual In New Interview, We Look At ALL* The Larry Evidence" by Stephanie Soteriou of Yahoo! News. Larries felt validated in their beliefs by these articles."And I want to cry with the relief of it all! As a group, we Larries have been so battered and so beaten, yet we have stayed SO STRONG! When one of us falters, the others pick us up and brush off the dirt and then hold our hand until we find our balance. It’s an amazing journey we’ve been on together and today, after Aaron Butterfield released the first part of his wonderful article debunking Babygate, I just feel like we’re in the home stretch." by srslycris, reblogged by jaime-h-et-l, 30 January 2016. As of 11 February 2024, this tumblr post has 643 notes. Anti-larries have complained about cynical clickbait articles pandering to Larries, but they have also argued that certain journalists have gone even farther and may be either Larries themselves or doing a good job of pretending., 9 June 2017. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by5trawberryfie1d, (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by styles_sublime, Aug 25, 2022. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), tweet by calliexharry, Sep 5, 2022. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), 1 May 2016. (Accessed 10 February 2024.), 23 July 2017. (Accessed 10 February 2024.)
In January 2016, after the birth of Louis Tomlinson's son and the rapid spread of the babygate conspiracy theory, Aaron Butterfield wrote an article titled "We Need to Talk About One Direction" at breatheheavy.com (later deleted). A Tumblr anti-larrie wrote an expose on Butterfield, arguing that his previous Twitter interactions with Larries showed he was a Larrie:
sexatoxbridge, a Larrie by sexatoxbridge, 27 Dec 2015. As of 11 February 2024, this tumblr post has 1260 notes., wrote a rebuttle:
The following day, sexatoxbridge (username is a reference to the original topic of their blog) announced on their website that the One Direction articles they had published on the Buzzfeed Community page for the past two years had all been deleted "without reason or explanation today". sexatoxbridge believed the real reason was "because I called Simon Cowell out for being a shady ass hoe."Sex at Oxbridge, Buzzfeed and Louis Tomlinson Written by S@O (Wayback Machine copy), 1 February 2016. A few months later sexatoxbridge reported that their blog had been hacked and they thought it was due to Simon Cowell again., 4 August 2016. As of 11 February 2024, this tumblr post has 189 notes. (Simon Cowell was a judge on The X-Factor and signed One Direction to his record label.)
===Harassment of Journalists===
:See also Larry Is Real.
Negative depictions of Larry Stylinson and Larries in the media has sometimes resulted in harassment of interviewers and members of the press. As Larries are quick to point out, this is not unique to Larry or Larries. There have been many incidents of the wider 1D fandom harassing media representatives who criticize band members, such as when GQ faced harassment over their One Direction cover story.One Direction fans respond to GQ covers in horrifying ways. Posted July 30th, 2013. Accessed November 10, 2019.
When journalist and slash fan Aja Romano published an article in The Daily Dot in 2012 describing the tinhat phenomenon, they were attacked in the comments.One Direction Fans have trouble separating their 'Larry Stylinson' fantasy from reality, The Daily Dot, posted August 22, 2012. The comments section was not preserved by the Wayback Machine, but was referenced by other fans who witnessed it: see eleveninches' August 22, 2012 LiveJournal post This is the greatest thing to ever happen to her (me) (archived). (It should be noted that Aja's journalism covering fandom has been heavily criticized by many fans for being (deliberately) provocative, sensationalist, and/or misleading. However, there is no excuse for harassment.)
In 2019 The Mirror reported that DJ Joe Cooper was still receiving death threats for asking Louis about visiting Toys R Us with his son. by Vicki Newman, Mirror Online, 20 Feb 2019. Although the article didn't mention Larries by name, Joe Cooper's November 2017 tweet about the interview, tweet by ItsJoeCooper, 29 Nov 2017. (Accessed 20 March 2024.) still show replies from angry fans demanding the interview focus on Louis's music and not his personal life; it's clear from context many of them were Larries and their objection was to the mention of Louis having a son., tweet by 28thJuneSanSiro, 29 Nov 2017. (Accessed 20 March 2024.), tweet by Doyoungismyult, 30 Nov 2017. (Accessed 20 March 2024.), tweet by HisSweetLouis, 30 Nov 2017. (Accessed 20 March 2024.), tweet by jadore_la_mer, 29 November 2017. (Accessed 20 March 2024.), tweet by I_anne07, 1 Dec 2017. (Accessed 20 March 2024.)
===Circular Reporting and Blind Items===
Larries often responded enthusiastically to media coverage favorable to Larry, and at times may have interpreted it as independent confirmation of their theories."Love these, yay, they see it too." , tweet by D0ntSt0pMeNow, Mar 16, 2014., tweet by rainboulou, 28 Dec 2013.
An extreme case of circular reporting occurred in 2012-2013, when larries were following blindgossip.com, tweet by 1DMofosUpdates, 8 Aug 2013., tweet by harryoglouis, 18 Oct 2012., tweet by bottomharrry, 28 Apr 2013., tweet by harryhasabf, 30 Sep 2013., a site that published celebrity gossip "blind items". The site came to the attention of One Direction fandom after its April 2012 post "Boy Banders Are Hiding A Secret". Many larries were reading it, someone posted an extensive masterpost compiling the Larry-related blindsBlind Gossip: A One Direction Speculations Masterpost (Under Construction as of 19 January 2016), and at least some thought it was a reliable source, Dec 30, 2012., tweet by _LarryTrueLove, 15 Oct 2013., tweet by _larry_is_love_, 15 Oct 2013.. A larrie posted a debunk in October 2013 showing that the source of the Larry-related items was larries' own speculation posted publicly on social media., 10 May 2016.
In March 2014, another larrie commented,
Larries have also used media stories reporting Larry theories as evidence that 1D's management is leaking Larry-friendly stories as a deliberate tactic to prepare the general public for Larry being real. See Seeding.
== Ethics of Outing Celebrities ==
Larries believe that Harry and Louis have been forced to stay in the closet, and this belief has also led to Larries discussing the phenomenon of closeting in the music industry generally. Larries have frequently debated the ethics of outing celebrities, with some asserting that closeted people's sexuality shouldn't be publicly discussed. However, what counts as public discussion is also a matter of debate, with many Tumblr Larries believing that Tumblr is a fine and private place, and many Twitter Larries seeming not to count their own tweets as part of visible public discourse. Instead, Larries are more likely to view their own fannish discussion spaces as private and media interviews with the band as public, criticizing journalists as being invasive for asking Louis about his personal life. See #Larry Stylinson in the Media.
Some fans who believe Larry is real have criticized Larries:
However, believingisnotlarrie's post above received 0 notes in a fandom where Larrie posts often got thousands of reblogs. The majority view among Larries has always been that Harry and Louis want to come out and therefore Larries are not doing anything wrong by outing them., tweet by Bigblues1DLWT, 21 February 2022. Anti-larries have criticized them for this:
Some Larries have suggested that public speculation over a celebrity's sexual orientation should be treated as akin to other celebrity gossip, and that treating it differently implies that there is something wrong with being gay.
Some Larries have argued that Harry and Louis's public behavior demonstrates they are at minimum comfortable with public discussion about their sexualities and may even be encouraging it. They argue that Harry and Louis are using symbols associated with the queer community or knowingly invoking Larrie symbols and beliefs with their actions. Some Larries think they are open about their sexualities and relationship behind the scenes ("everyone knows"). In 2019 one Larrie speculated that their use of symbols and coded languages suggested that they may have "at least [come] out to people in the community and to close allies." posted on Tumblr in Jul 2019. (Accessed 10 Sep 2019)
== See Also ==
*Crazy About One Direction (2013)
*Truth Slash Fiction (2016)
*One Direction Euphoria Fanfiction Controversy (2019)
*Everything I Need I Get From You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It (2022)
*Tinhats and the Fourth Wall
*Bandom and the Fourth Wall
== Notes and References ==
=== Notes ===
=== References ===
Category:One DirectionCategory:Fandom Occurrences‎Category:ScandalsCategory:Fandom Wars