Spoiler alert! Contains details from Sunday’s episode of HBO’s “Euphoria.”
“Euphoria” can’t stop courting controversy.
HBO’s unflinching high-school drama starring Zendaya has already drawn ire from parents and critics for its frequent depictions of explicit teen sex and substance abuse. Following Sunday’s episode, the show has a new set of detractors in One Direction fans, who are up in arms over a graphic fantasy sequence involving former bandmates Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
And for those wondering if the boy-banders approved of the sex scene? The answer is no, according to Tomlinson.
“I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it,” he tweeted Monday.
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In the episode, Rue (Zendaya) gives viewers a detailed back story on heavyset classmate Kat (Barbie Ferreira), a relative social outcast who becomes a popular webcam girl. But it’s not her first brush with internet fame: Rue reveals in voiceover that Kat used to write X-rated fan fiction about Styles and Tomlinson (dubbed “Larry Stylinson”), which won her many fans of her own on Tumblr.
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Rue then proceeds to narrate an example of one such naughty scene, which is acted out on screen by animated versions of Styles and Tomlinson. In the NSFW minute-long clip, Styles comes up behind Tomlinson backstage and starts massaging his shoulders, before getting on his knees and performing oral sex. The two men tenderly embrace and float into the cosmos together, lovingly gazing into each others’ eyes.
The scene was roundly criticized by fans of the ex-boy band on Twitter, many of whom believed it was a violation of the singers’ privacy and done in poor taste.
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“As a Larrie (a fan who “shipped” Styles and Tomlinson’s fake relationship), I’d like to say that I do NOT wants ‘Euphoria’ to have a Larry sex scene,” Twitter user @sunshiinebeann wrote. “It’s (expletive) disrespectful and disgusting. … The producers are disgraceful.”
“If ‘Euphoria’ really has a Larry animated sex scene, I am going to be LIVID, that’s so disrespectful and (expletive) GROSS,” @selflovehes chimed in.
Others called the moment “uncomfortable” and “embarrassing,” suggesting that the artists should take legal action against HBO.
Other people saw the raunchy sequence as a critique of toxic fandoms, suggesting that many of the fans who took umbrage with it may have written similar fiction themselves.
“Euphoria” airs Sundays on HBO (10 EDT/PDT).
