Bullshit 2.0

The Bullshit 2.0 tweets of November 2014 marked a major event for larries, One Direction fans who believed the conspiracy theory that Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson were in a romantic relationship in real life. 
The name Bullshit 2.0 was coined by larries and is a reference to a preceding event in 2012 that larries termed the bullshit tweet; after Bullshit 2.0 happened, the first bullshit tweet became known as Bullshit 1.0. 
These tweets were interpreted in a radically different fashion by different groups of fans: fans who believed in the conspiracy theory, fans who kept watch on the conspiracy theorists, and fans who were less aware of the conspiracy theory.
The tweets were posted on Louis Tomlinson's official twitter account and so were, and are still visible, to the entire fandom (and the media and the rest of the world). 
==Sequence of Events==
On 9 November 2014, the British newspaper The Independent published an article titled . 
The article featured a photograph of Louis Tomlinson wearing an Apple t-shirt with a vintage logo; Apple Computer Inc.'s logo from 1977 to 1999 was rainbow-colored. The photo was one of several taken on November 7 when Louis went to a rehearsal for The X FactorTimeline post written by a larrie: , posted to tumblr by daysundercover, December 3rd 2014. 1,793 notes as of 26 September 2019.; it appears that the photos were shared on social media the same day because fans were already excited about the rainbow designExample fan tweet from 7 November 2014: .
The headline mention of Harry Styles was in reference to a video interview published on November 3 in which band members were asked about what qualities they want in a girlfriend; Liam said "Female," and Harry replied, "Not that important".On Demand Entertainment's official youtube channel. One Direction Fourplay: Harry Styles and Liam Payne answer your questions, 3 November 2014. Watch from ~2:20. One Direction fans were very excited by Harry's comment, and a google search turns up a lot of articles in the press mentioning it.
The headline also mentions Tim Cook; he came out as gay on 30 October 2014.Wikipedia:Tim_Cook, accessed 25 September 2019.
The next day, 10 November 2014, Louis sent the following tweets to the writer of the Independent article in what would become known as Bullshit 2.0:
The following day, Jenn Selby, the author of the article replied,
== Fan Reactions ==
There was immediate backlash from inside and outside the fandom for Louis's tweets. Many fans were angry because they believed that Louis's tweets were homophobic. The media then reported on fans' reactions.
To many non-larries it seemed that Louis, a straight man, was objecting to being shown to support a gay man, and there was no good reason for him to object to that. Meanwhile, some larries thought this was evidence of internalized homophobia.
In protest, some fans encouraged others to unfollow Louis and One Direction on social media and cancel their pre-orders of their upcoming album."To do: Cancel FOUR pre-order..." by hiddensymposiarch, posted on Tumblr 10 Nov 2014. Accessed 5 Sep 2019, with 3,079 notes. Note that hiddensymposiarch was a big larrie at the time, but later became an ex larrie."Why cancel the preorder and not buy anything from them?" by hiddensymposiarch, posted on 10 Nov 2014 on Tumblr. Accessed 5 Sep 2019., posted to tumblr by goldbootedbaby (domlounation), 10 November 2014. 2,646 notes as of 26 September 2019. Other fans who reblogged the post thought the original poster was a larrie. For many larries, this protest was done as an attempt to send a message to Sony and the band's management, not necessarily to punish Louis himself, because they saw him as a victim of his management's homophobia. Some larries believed it was management, not Louis, who wrote the tweet."Anonymous asked: No, no, no, no, no. And there it is a straight-up denial. I am crying. Please let that be modest...", answered by lapelosa, posted on Tumblr 10 Nov 2014. 2,896 notes as of 25 September 2019., anon ask answered by larryftdua, 30 May 2015. 915 notes as of 25 September 2019.
Larries perceived the Bullshit 2.0 tweets to be an abrupt reversal of a previous trend that larries had been celebrating as One Direction's LGBTQ+ support. However, many argued that because his offline actions were supportive of LGBTQ+ fans, the homophobia in the tweets meant his twitter account wasn't really him; they believed Louis was doing his best to fight against an industry that had persecuted him for his sexuality (they thought he was gay). Larries argued that Louis had been the first band member to say he unreservedly welcomed LGBTQ+ fans. Many fans had been excited when he wore a rainbow t-shirt at the 30 April 2014 concertIn Santiago, Chile. Wikipedia has a list of all the tour dates and a dated photograph with Louis in the t-shirt, and some even thought the t-shirt might be support for Rainbow DirectionOne of Rainbow Direction's founders speculated that Louis purposefully wore the rainbow t-shirt for concerts where Rainbow Direction didn't have anyone signed up to participate: by thisiskatsblog, posted to tumblr Sep 10, 2014.. (Others argue it was simply a coincidence as the t-shirt was likely related to his Vans endorsement deal.) In addition, some queer fans have reported that his interactions with them have indicated not just acceptance of but also in-depth understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. This seemed to be supported by his actions as a judge on The X Factor in 2018. Also see this 2017 post from a larrie's point of view on fandom perception of Louis as homophobic vs. larrie perception of Louis as supportive: 
However, the interpretation of the tweets as homophobic was not universal.
Anti-larries and other non-larries have argued that people were misreading the tweets and ignoring the history of celebrity gossip magazines speculating about Louis's sexuality. Louis's tweets suggest he thought that the article was insinuating that he and Harry Styles were in a relationship, and many fans thought this was indeed the subtext of the article.
Louis was also known to be aware of fans' belief that he and Harry were in a relationship, and he and his family and girlfriend were frequently harassed about it on social media. Some non-larries thought he may have been frustrated that The Independent was perpetuating the conspiracy theory.
==Fanart==
File:LT rainbow fanart 01.gif|love who you love, there ain’t no other way.fanart by tomlinsun
File:LT rainbow fanart 02.gif|
== Footnotes ==
Category:One Direction Fandom Glossary
Category:Twitter
Category:2014 Events
Category:2014 Twitter