Bullshit 2.0

Synonyms:
See also:	Larry Is Real, Larry Stylinson, Larrie, Bullshit 1.0
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fanart by twopoppies (original, 2018) inspired by a photo of Louis wearing the Apple t-shirt.

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 "Louis Tomlinson supports gay Apple CEO Tim Cook - days after Harry Styles' comments on gender and sexuality", ^{Archived version}.

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 Factor; it appears that the photos were shared on social media the same day because fans were already excited about the rainbow design.

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". 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.

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:

@JennSelby The fact that you work for such a 'credible' paper and you would talk such rubbish is laughable. I am in fact straight.

@JennSelby Google 'original apple logo' and you will see the one printed on my shirt that you reported on. Trying to look for a promotion ?

Fucking ridiculous I even have to tweet that shit !

The following day, Jenn Selby, the author of the article replied,

"Thank you for your tweet. I'm sorry you found our article in any way insulting..." / "At no point did we insinuate anything about your sexuality or mention your relationship, and nor would we..." / "We were merely speculating as to whether you'd shown your support to a brave man facing some persecution..." / "For his decision to come out in public recently. I'd like to remind my readers..." / "That being called 'gay' should never be insulting & that standing up for #LGBT rights is an admirable thing to do..."

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. 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.

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.^{[citation needed]} Many fans had been excited when he wore a rainbow t-shirt at the 30 April 2014 concert, and some even thought the t-shirt might be support for Rainbow Direction. (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.^{[citation needed]} 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: "I'm new to the fandom, and I saw that article about Louis from the LGBT website...", ^{Archived version}

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.

But this wasn't about whether Louis was or not showing support to Tim Cook, it was clearly about 'Larry', even thought it wasn't direct. If this was about Louis supporting LGBTQ+ fans and rights, it wouldn't have mentioned Harry....The way this article was written and titled, it's a clear click-bait for those people who actually believe Louis and Harry are in a romantic relationship since the X Factor days....Not to mention all the people who believe Larry is real have been harassing Louis, and his acquaintances for almost four years now.

toriality, 2014

The thing about the bullshit 2.0 tweet is that if I read the article and then read the tweet immediately after as a reaction directly to it, I cringe so much and feel awful about the fact that he phrased it like that and that he didn’t apologize. Because it comes across as him being angry at the suggestion that he would support LGBTQ+ rights and as if he considers any implication that he might be gay or support gay rights as an insult. But when I don’t focus on the specific content of the article, and think of it in context of Louis being told over and over that he’s about to come out as being in a relationship with Harry, to the point where he might feel like it defines him and there’s nothing he’s been able to do to stop it, then him angrily tweeting “I am in fact straight” and calling the article rubbish doesn’t bother me anywhere near as much.... Doesn’t make it ok that he hurt people at the time and didn’t apologize, but to me it’s a pretty understandable reaction.

lrambling, 2016

Fanart

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  love who you love, there ain’t no other way.
  fanart by tomlinsun

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