Liam Payne’s Attitude Magazine Interview: Why The Fans Are Offended

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you’re probably aware that all is not well within the One Direction fandom following Liam Payne’s interview with iconic gay magazine, Attitude.

And before you go ahead and assume that fans are over-reacting or being dramatic, you should probably understand the reason why so many are upset following the star’s comments about the LGBT+ community.

After already landing himself in hot water once for not acknowledging this huge part of 1D’s fanbase, Liam’s interview (and smouldering cover photos) started out well enough.

Discussing homophobia, the 22-year-old explained: “I have a couple of older gay friends who have been in my life for years, and they were hilarious when I was growing up, squeezing my bum and going ‘Ooooh!’ But that’s the relationship we had. I didn’t mind.

“A lot of my friends are gay and I don’t think anything about it. I actually find it funny that being gay is still something that’s talked about as though it’s not natural. I mean, I don’t go around saying 'oh, this guy is gay’. I don’t make a big deal about it.

“I will just say 'this is my mate’. My mates are my mates, regardless of their sexuality.

“We were n America at that time [the same-sex marriage ruling passed] and there were loads of great parties and flags flying everywhere. It’s strange to me that countries are still refusing to pass the law.

“I just don’t understand what’s taking them so long.We live in a time where everything is a lot more acceptable, but certain countries won’t move on.

“It’s made into a bigger issue than it should have been by people who are holding onto history.

“You can’t live in the past, you have to move with the times.”

All very progressive and positive stuff… However, things soon took a turn for the worse when Liam criticized fans who started to take rainbow flags to the boys’ shows following America’s ruling in favour of same-sex marriage.

Overlooking the fact that American fans were just super happy to fi-na-lly have equality in their country and they were eager to celebrate the new law as much as blimmin’ possible, Li decided that this was the perf opportunity to slag off a huge majority of his fans who believe in Larry Stylinson.

AKA those who believe that Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles are embroiled in a secret romance with one another.

He ranted: “When the law changed in the US there were loads of rainbow flags flying at our shows, but I think that was mainly because people think of the Louis and Harry thing, which is absolutely nuts and drives me insane.

“It’s like, when you know the ins and outs of what is going on with people it’s just annoying when it’s so stupid. It becomes like a conspiracy or like a cult, like the people who watch them and think that every move they make is a gesture towards them being together, and I know it’s not true and it makes me mad.

“Louis is very happy about becoming a dad. But the funny thing is, there are some people out there who think that Louis getting Briana pregnant is fake. That it’s not real, it’s a cover up.

“And that’s the sort of sh*t that gets to me. But you have to hold your tongue and that’s fine. I mean, it’s not really any of my business anyway.

“I find it very strange that someone so young can think up these stories or even imagine these things are going on.

“That for me is the sad and sorry side of what we have done.“

Now, the issue that fans have with his comments has nothing to do with the fact that he “denies Larry”, as so many have unreasonably assumed, it’s more due to the fact that he turned the iconic #LoveWins movement into something as shallow as fans only brandishing their pride and/ or support for the LGBTQ+ community because of their, in his words, “strange” and “sad” beliefs.

On top of wanting to celebrate the US law change, fans who are a part of ‘Rainbow Direction’ also encourage others to join them in making One Direction concerts a “safe space” for this community, with the Rainbow Direction movement itself maintaining a ‘no shipping’ policy when it comes to their own position within the fandom.

Within their mission statement on their website, they explain: “It is our policy that we keep our shipping and our rainbows separate. We want all fans to feel welcome and included, regardless of what they do or don’t ship.

“More importantly, rainbow signs without a specific mention of a ship extend support to all LGBTQ+ fans and that is what this project is about.”

Furthermore, Harry Styles has recently been praised by fans for showing his ongoing support to the LGBT+ community by dancing on stage with a rainbow flag in some truly iconic moments, which has only left the band’s followers confused.

After all, if Liam and co. are seemingly so offended by the flags at concerts, why does Harry so openly embrace them?

On top of the total misconception on what the flags are all about, readers are unhappy that what was supposed to be an iconic, solo magazine interview for the star turned into a rather nasty Larry-shipper-attack, with the final page of Liam’s interview being solely focused on ‘Larry’ instead of the really important matters that the LGBT+ community face.

Liam’s response to the criticism also did him no favours, with the singer taking to his Twitter account last night to complain: “It’s funny I thought people appreciated honesty these days.

“Can see people saying I’m playing 'the victim’ I don’t feel even 1% a victim at all I had a wonderful time doing the shoot …

“And am blessed with the best job in the world massive thank you to @AttitudeMag for having me along and for everyone who enjoyed reading. [sic]”

In short, this is a very messy situation, and no matter what happens we just hope that this doesn’t discourage fans from showing off their undying love, support, and pride for the LGBT+ community at One Direction concerts.

In fact, we suggest that everybody grabs their flags, gets to a gig, and flies them higher than ever before.