Larrie

Synonyms:	Tinhat, Dark Larrie, truther
See also:	Larry Stylinson, Larry Is Real, Anti-Larrie, Big Larrie, Directioner
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Larries are One Direction fans who believe that bandmembers Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson (whose ship name is Larry Stylinson) are a real-life couple. Over time, terms describing different factions of Larries have proliferated: see #Types of Larries below.

Compared to other fandoms with "tinhat" ships, Larries are thought to make up a much larger proportion of the greater One Direction fandom, though they are often not well-received within it due to a variety of reasons. Many 1D fans are displeased by the negative attention Larries have attracted from other fandoms, mainstream media, and members of the band themselves.

Not all fans who think that Larry Is Real adopt the term Larrie for themselves. This may be due to not identifying with the Larrie community, not wanting to be associated with the negative views surrounding the name or wanting to avoid the attention of anti-larries.

Origin of the Term

The Larry theory originated in the RPF shipping community. Fans who shipped Larry and fans who believed Larry Is Real did not have separate identifiers until years after the fandom took off, initially both calling themselves Larry shippers.

Over time, the term "Larrie" was adopted to identify fans who believed Larry was real, though the boundaries can still be blurry, especially outside the fandom. Meanwhile, as Larry fandom became its own thing, some fans who joined later did not migrate from shipping fandom, may never have considered themselves shippers, and were not interested in RPF.

It is not clear whether the term was coined by Larries themselves, or whether it was first used by people who did not believe in the theory and was later "reclaimed" by Larries.

It existed as early as the summer of 2014:

Okay, I went back and checked my own usage. The word "larries" first appeared on my blog here - note my tags:

[soleilouis:] ngl it's so funny when Things happen and ~anti-h/l people are like OH GOD HERE WE GO THE LARRIES WILL MAKE THIS A THING!!! like pal I hate to break it to you but that's you acknowledging it as a weird thing lmao

#'the larries' omg can we start calling ourselves that it's kind of hilarious #7.13.14 #fandom psychology

And then in September/October 2014, we started using it broadly, talking about reclaiming it, joking about it left and right. And @1dfansgive started designing merch that included it.

One thing I’m not sure about, based on this, is whether soleilouis was actually the very first person to use the term, and then the antis picked it up as a mocking thing, or whether the antis were already using it and soleilouis’s post reflects that.

genuinelybelieve-blog, 2015

The #larries Tumblr tag turns up a fan asking, on September 23, 2014:

are we officially called 'larries' now or

#PEOPLE CALL US LARRIES #IT'S CUTE NAME TBH #MINE #LARRIES

isthatyoularry, 2014

On twitter several 1D fans commented on the recent adoption of the term larries in late September 2014, with varying opinions:

• "so now its not "larry shippers" it's "larries" ok"
• "ARE WE REALLY CALLED LARRIES? omg im so happy rn its like we finally became a fuCKING FANDOM! #larry #larries"
• "I preferred larry cult tbh it at least sounded kinda exclusive and exciting. Larries sounds like a symptom of laryngitis or the flu"
• "Wait do people really call us "larries" I feel honored"

During a 2016 Tumblr discussion between non-larries, someone suggested that the term was popularized on 28 October 2014 after Harry made a tweet using the word "larents," in reply to someone's typo about their parents:

i’m just seeing this now but that’s definitely where larries came from. after this tweet everyone was like OMG HARRY AND LOUIS ARE LARENTS AND WE’RE THEIR LARRIES!!! i looked back on my old instagram and found a post where i had explained it because everyone was confused about the origins even then since harry’s tweet was a reply and not a lot of people paid huge attention to it. writing things that larry did with ls attached to the front of the word started in full force then too, like lairport and larriage. obviously a lot of those terms aren’t used much anymore but larries stuck around lol

andromedaharry, 2016

Types of Larries

"are you a wellington larrie or a leeds larrie? are you a dark larrie or a chill larrie? are you an angsty fic larrie or a fluffy fic larrie? bonus question: are you an iicf larrie or a home larrie?" (posted on Tumblr, ^{Archived version} 10 Jun 2016, accessed 16 Sep 2019)

Terms like Weak Larrie, Dark Larrie and Demon Larrie are often used humorously, though fans have reported being bullied for being Weak Larries. Some larries also feel that the term Dark Larrie has some stigma attached, because, as with "tinhat", Anti-Larries often use it pejoratively.

Dark Larrie

Dark Larrie is a term with multiple meanings. It may have started as a joke among Larries after someone sent a Tumblr ask calling Larries "Dark Larries." Initially it meant an evil Larrie (Dark Larrie as in Dark Lord or Dark Harry), but evolved to mean a secret Larrie. In this sense, Liam Payne, Nick Grimshaw, and others have been called Dark Larries.

Confused fans asking about the definition of the term have also been told that it means a hardcore Larrie interested in the minutiae of the conspiracy theories. While some consider "Dark Larrie" and "Larrie" to be synonyms, in general Larries themselves do not as there are Larries who do not believe in or are not interested in investigating the related conspiracy theories.

A Demon Larrie is an extreme Dark Larrie.

Calling Harry, Louis and their bandmates Dark Larries is a common meme.

Louis and Harry will ALWAYS be the darkest Larries.

lornasaurusrex, 2018

Chill Larrie

A Chill Larrie is the opposite of a Dark Larrie, i.e. a Larrie who isn't hardcore obsessed or interested in conspiracy theories.

Others believe that whether or not Larries post Larry-related comments on the social media accounts of the band's friends and family members determines who is a Chill or Dark Larrie.

Some people, however, have expressed that there may not be a meaningful distinction between Chill Larries and Dark Larries. One fan remarked, "'I’m a chill larrie' is the 'not all men' of this fandom."

Big Larrie

A Big Larrie is a Larrie blog with a lot of followers. See Big Larrie.

Weak Larrie

A Weak Larrie is a Larrie who has doubts about whether or not Larry Is Real.

Ex-Larrie

An Ex-Larrie is a fan who once expressed belief that Larry was real but later changed their mind.

A prominent Big Larrie who became an ex-Larrie in 2015 explained:

Anonymous asked: how/when did you stop believing in larry? (sorry if you've answered this before)

In May I think? It was shortly after Elounor broke up but before anything major happened. And it wasn’t because of anything that had happened at that time, it was because I started talking to @glitterbootsandyellowshorts who was very patient about answering all my questions about “Larry proof” and showed me that there are other narratives that are plausible other than Larry.

Honestly as soon as I realised that, I was out of there. I spent a few days euphorically going through everything and re-evaluating it, and was very pleased to learn/realise that I didn’t have to believe in Larry, there were other very reasonable explanations and possibilities. Because honestly I was sick of being a Larrie, it was stressful and nothing ever went the way I wanted, and it was sad and frustrating and unpleasant.

hiddensymposiarch, 2016

Some ex-Larries became Anti-Larries.

Houie

A Houie (a later term derivative of the alternate smooshname "Houis") is a fan who believes Harry/Louis were in a relationship or had feelings for each other previously but aren't/don't anymore. Some believe this was due to self-closeting by Louis. The term and its definition appear to be used by Larries derogatorily more often than they are used as self-descriptors by "Houies".

Bluegreener

A Bluegreener is a Larrie who is disrespectful or who takes things "too far". A bluegreener is likely to believe in things associated with Larry deemed untrue or unlikely by mainstream Larries. See also Blue and Green.

Buzzin Larrie

A "buzzin" larrie does not believe in babygate or that Louis is a father.

No Stunts Larrie

A No Stunts Larrie, sometimes abbreviated "ns larrie", is a true larrie, one who doesn't think any of the stunts are real, including babygate.

Twarrie

A Twarrie is a larrie who believes in some of what other larries think are pure PR stunts, such as the public girlfriends or Freddie being Louis' son (babygate). Twarrie is short for twitter larrie and is meant to be derogatory: twitter users who became larries much later than everyone else and are uneducated about larrie theories. According to one twitter user the term came about because "twitter larries used to be the strongest but lately a lot of them have been the weakest compared to insta and tumblr larries" Searching twitter shows that the earliest appearance of the word "twarrie" in a 1D fandom context was in July 2020, but the term may have been circulating before that. On Tumblr the twarries tag goes back as far as September 2020, with a tumblr larrie complaining that twarries were calling them a bluegreener. Complaints about twarries appear to be the larrie version of complaints about newbies or an Eternal September-type phenomenon caused by the pandemic bringing in many new fans all at once.

Quarantine Larrie

A Quarantine Larrie became a Larrie during the COVID pandemic. On Twitter the term came into use around August/September 2020. Some examples:

• "It was debunked at the time it was happening.. I think these are quarantine larries" (August 6, 2020)
• "it’s so odd. i’m a quarantine larrie so i started off on tiktok where bg is literal taboo. and then i came here and it was even worse. but then when you actually look into it, there’s SO much ignored. people make fun of antis ignoring the “proof” but they’re doing the same?" (September 6, 2020)
• "I would like to take credit for being a quarantine larrie who definitely does not believe in bg. It’s so obvious that it doesn’t add up." (August 8, 2020)
• "As a quarantine larrie I first heard about them in march spent about 4 months researching and trying to disprove everything before giving in and accepting it's true" (August 30, 2020)
• "worst thing of corona? quarantine larries" (September 28, 2020)
• "Definitely. The wave of quarantine 'larries' was intense" (October 16, 2020)

Larries' Origin Stories

Larries like to tell stories about how they became Larries. A common trope is expressing surprise and disbelief at coming to believe in what everyone else considers a conspiracy theory.

Many Larries were Harry/Louis shippers first, but a number report that they were not introduced to Larry via shipping but by friends, YouTube videos, or mainstream news coverage of Larry Stylinson. One came to Larry via Sacha Judd's One Direction tech talk, ^{Archived version}. Some, but not all, of these Larries have become shippers as well.

A few fans have also claimed they were brought in by either seeing Harry and Louis together or hearing insider information.

See also: Larrie origin stories, ^{Archived version} compiled one by one Tumblr user.

New larries enthusing:

I found them only a week ago. I knew of Harry before but I stumbled across a Larry video while watching videos of Harry performing. And holyyyyy shiiiiitt, I’ve never seen two people more incredible than him and Louis. So I fell into the Larry hole ObVIousLyy and I can truly never go back.

tumblr, 2019

A month old Larrie here. 36yo in real life. Never once played 1D by choice(as in heard it of course but in passing). Until stumbling upon Larry video a month ago I had no idea about anything to do with the boys, ships, rumours. Just knew that Harry’s music was everywhere last year.

I now feel so emotionally overwhelmed by the significance of what we are witnessing. I want to emphasise that because of how intricate and cleverly woven and layered Larry bread crumbs are sprinkled throughout every medium of expression these geniuses have available to them. It’s very easy for a DM(or any other click bait headline type “journalistic establishment”)reader to look at a cluster of them and dismiss it as a tinfoil “iPhone conspiracy”.

r/LarryStylinson, 2023

Larrie Demographics

Belief in Larry arose very early in the fandom's history. See Origin of the Theory. Consequently, the earliest Larrie demographics were likely the same as of other Directioners: teenage girls. However, this may have changed as years passed and the band became immensely popular worldwide, Larry became more visible and more One Direction fans as well as outsiders were drawn to the theory.

Larries object to the characterization of them as teenage girls and point to the presence of older fans since the beginning. They have also argued that more older fans joined the fandom in 2014-2015 due to the increased visibility of Larry Stylinson and larries' excitement at what they believed to be an imminent coming out.^{[citation needed]} These included fans who claimed to have careers in law or public relations and contributed supposed "insider knowledge" to theories and analysis.

Larries are proud of the presence of credentialed professionals in their fandom and see it as another reason to be confident about their beliefs. They see the erasure of older fans in outsiders' discussions of Larry as typical of the way the outside world views fandom in general. They often mention it to others, but it does not have the desired effect; for example, when a larrie on tumblr informed Harry Styles's sister that older professionals numbered among Larries, she responded, "Doctors, lawyers and professors. Holy cow. What a WASTE." Yet this sort of response does nothing to deter them, possibly because at least some larries think these responses are written by or directed by Management as a tactic to discredit the theory that Harry and Louis are together. In discussing Louis's PR team's response to fans' criticism of his promo, one Tumblr user echoed the frustrations of many Larries:

When you see these people refer to or classify all of Louis’ fans as “lunatic” teenagers, “deluded fangirls”, or many of the other variations- what they are seeking to do is to delegitimize those fans, and therefore their knowledge and experience.

They are relying on systemic bias to discredit our opinions.

For example: “Jane, a marketing director, thinks SJPR is full of shit and bad at his job.” vs. “Jane, a crazy teenage girl, thinks Simon, an Adult Male, is bad at his job.”

It’s a lot easier to get away with shit if the only people calling you out publicly have already been disregarded.

theyrereallyawful, 2018

Larries by Platform

Larries, non-larries, and even academics have commented on how larrie culture is different on different social media websites. See this popular post from 2020 by tumblr larrie srslycris, characterizing larries on twitter, tumblr, instagram, reddit, tik tok, and youtube: My experience of larries based on the platforms they use.

In 2014, acafan H.L. Dare-Edwards wrote:

Larry Stylinson fandom cannot be understood as just one thing; it is fragmented, ‘performed’ differently in various online spaces, and operates according to different (internal) politics even within the same spaces.

A 2021 example of Tumblr larries looking askance at Twitter larries:

[anon]

I made the mistake to go on twitter. OMG! Never again. It’s full of larry shippers. Typical larries that retweet the aimh tweet, say elounor or bg are fake, but at the same time they want pap pics of harry and david kissing, or say harry should date david, or he’s dating his assistant. What the hell? Why do they have to ruin the larry fandom? Real larries are not like that. Sorry for the rant.

[twopoppies]

Nothing good comes from there. I’m telling you. It’s where brain cells go to die. It’s just a Mess™

See also One Direction Fandom Wars.

Views of Larries

See also: One Direction Fandom Wars: Larries vs Other 1D Fans

Larries' Views

Reddit, 2022:

I honestly don’t know how Larries have been keeping the faith for so long. I am genuinely amazed by the fans and the INCREDIBLE detective work. I know this is going to be a long-haul situation, so I am thrilled to have this community to keep me sane.

Tumblr, 2023:

The community between us larries is one of the strongest i've ever experienced. We are constantly bombarded with lies, gaslighted and targeted by other parts of the fandom, and sometimes by larry themselves. Yet, we usually respond with memes, laughter and love. I love being a larrie, and i'm still proud to call myself a larrie. The good still outweigh the bad for me, and that's why I'm still here.

Larries' Views of Others' Views of Larries

Twitter, 2019:

[mercuryspheres]

why is it that everyone hates larries? what did we do? we believe in something and just watch videos and read fanfics about it, we support the boys individually and equally and 99,5% of us wouldn't EVER harass them or a family member about it

[AFanOfLarry]

That's a good question. I think it's a combo of the narrative spun by management, some homophobic fans & the few Larries who do break the 4th wall & ask family members about it. Otherwise we're lovely. We love Larry & we love their love for each other. Nothing worth hating.

[canyonagb]

and some antis have the nerve to call us homophobes... like- in what world does homophobia stands for supporting two men in a relationship? i dont understand...??

Tumblr, 2021:

[anonymous]
Ik that some larries send unnecessary hate as well but why do larries get so much hate from antis? Is it just the homophobia? Even respectful larries get lots of hate. I once read a message that an anti sent a larrie and i wish it had a trigger warning 😔 real or not, larrie is promoting love between two boys, why does it get so much hate. Even from people who don't ship harry or louis with other people.

[twopoppies]

I honestly don’t know, love. They’re so aggressive and so demented most of the time. But it stems from the way the idea of “Larry” has been so demonized and the way fans who believe the narrative feel they are true fans who support Harry and Louis “in the right way “. And a lot of it is homophobia.

Reddit, 2022:

[ohpleaselarry]
PSA- I highly recommend leaving the 1d sub

...Fact is, no matter how much we try to defend and explain, the general people in this fandom are only going to see us as Eleanor-hating, smut art tweet spamming, overstepping conspiracists. Every time I’ve talked to a non-shipper they bring up the Eleanor hate that I (and nobody I talk to) have ever done. Every. Time.

Since we’re such a big group, the toxic side of larries are a substantial amount of people, so we’ll always have a bad reputation. I can’t even count how many times I log on this site and see either a post or offhand comment talking shit about us.

[maybe-someday-]

But honestly the main sub is a really weird place and here people can actually have civilized conversations. And tbh I feel like their image of larries is really dated. Like they think we’re still crazy 2014 larries but we’ve grown up as well and learned from our mistakes. But can’t really expect them to notice that considering 80% of them are blind.

See also #Larries and Academics below.

Viewpoint Diversity

See also: Larry Is Real

Larries think that non-larries unfairly believe that Larry fandom is a monolith; larries experience their community as far more diverse than outsiders think. In particular, non-larries often assume that all Larries hold exactly the same beliefs (see cult section), so any time the most outlandish-sounding conspiracy theories are circulated, non-larries may assume that all larries believe it without question.

However, within the community, there is a range of opinion on any specific theory, and more importantly, there is or was a range of opinion regarding the likelihood of Larry being real, and at what point they were together and whether they are still together. (As of 2015, some Larries have started using the term "Houie" to describe fans who believe that Harry and Louis used to be in a relationship but broke up, thus signalling that in order to be a true Larrie, you must believe they are currently in a relationship and therefore subscribe to the conspiracy theory.) Plenty of fans take the idea of Larry being real seriously without harassing anybody. Furthermore, not all believers subscribe to all tinhat theories. For example, one theory that was considered fringe even among larries was the idea that Louis' girlfriend Eleanor was not only a paid beard, but actually twins or triplets who would trade off make public appearances with him. Commenting on the Eleanor twin idea in 2014, Tumblr user stylinsoncity said,

I think we Larry supporters need to all sit down and have a nice chat and come to an understanding once and for all that there is no Tina Calder. The fact that this is even still a theory stuns me. And truly, when you compile arguments and “proof” supporting the existence of Tina, you make the entire Larry Stylinson fandom look like idiots.

Other 1D Fans

Historically, Larries were poorly received in One Direction fandom for a variety of reasons. Many fans had a very negative view of larries, though some remained neutral.

Common complaints have included their breaking The Fourth Wall; harassing band members' friends and families; continuing to discuss Larry theories after pushback from the band members; expressing what have been perceived by some as homophobic attitudes towards closeting, beards and stereotypically gay mannerisms; having a cult-like culture based on conspiracy theories; and contributing to the public perception that all One Direction fans are crazy.

1D fandom also included non-RPF fans, who were also bothered by the simple fact that Larries shipped two real-life people together--or worse, they were homophobic and objected specifically to its being a slash ship.

A number of fans have complained that Larries take up too much space, "making everything about Larry."

Ex-Larries' Views

Some former Larries have spoken up about their time in Larry fandom and how they felt about being a Larrie.

Pretty much every single person in the One Direction fandom who wasn’t a Larrie ridiculed Larries. I remember getting a sick feeling in my stomach whenever we were dismissed as “vile tinhats with no lives” because that wasn’t how I saw the community. I saw it as a positive safe space filled with so many interesting people from different backgrounds... I made friends (which had always been hard for me) and was a part of lively group chats where the conversations were not just about Larry, but about life and art and whatever else came up. We were an island of our own and whenever we got beaten down by outside forces trying to tell us we were “unhinged”, we huddled into each other. In hindsight, this may have been what made me stay for so long, because if it wasn’t for that, the experience would’ve just been endless waiting while getting cursed out from all areas of the internet, and I’m not sure how I would’ve turned out if that was the case.

stjacks, 2020

Around 2016 some ex-larries set up support groups on Tumblr, such as exlarriesupportgroup (a popular blog later deleted) and exlarriessupport. exlarriessupport explained why they set up their blog:

I made this blog for all doubting/questioning Larries and ex-Larries, because the Larrie Bubble is very difficult to escape, and Larries usually aren’t very forgiving of those who have left their side. Here you can ask questions you didn’t dare ask Larries (or Antis). On this blog I will also share experiences of other ex-Larries, to see how they think now and how they are doing now that they’re not a Larrie anymore.

exlarriessupport reblogged some posts by ex-larries:

i think i always kind of consoled myself with the idea that i wasn’t one of THOSE larries. The larries that attacked every girl ever associated with Louis or Harry, i never sent them fan arts or smut or harrassed their family so by that logic i could tell myself that i was a GOOD larrie. That i was fighting for them. That i was a hero just trying to get their freedom. With that logic i could ignore the fact that i was consistently ignoring every denial, every flash of anger and exasperation, the breakdown of Louis and Harrys friendship, i was part of a movement. Now i am coming to terms with the fact that i was very much a part of that, even indirectly and it was never okay.

recoveringlarrieblog, 2016

[anon]

larry is still real if you think so or not i can't believe how shitty you've become

[tumkirk]
let me tell you what i know about larry.... i know i used to feel sick whenever things weren’t going how i thought they were supposed to, and i know a lot of the friendships i made while being a larrie were superficial, and based around how “good” of a larrie i was. i know that the atmosphere surrounding harry and louis on this website grosses me out and makes me embarrassed that i ever thought what i was doing in the name of larry like digging into their personal lives and berating anyone they associated with for no reason was Good.

When exlarriesupportgroup existed, many anons wrote in expressing very negative feelings:

I think I've developed a phobia of the larry ship, I've been feeling so angry and betrayed and guilty and ashamed and disgusted by the shittiness I used to be part of as a larrie, that coming across larry stuff (footage, manips, fic, etc) now just infuriates the fuck out of me. Like, I wish larry had never interacted ever, that larry should never have existed.

anonymous, 2016

It is not uncommon for ex-Larries to report that they were harassed by other Larries, both before and after they left the fold. Some 2016 comments:

• "Instead of having their big old larrie family comforting them, they get treated like trash, get called weak and are told they aren’t needed. So they go over to the 'other side' and find the support they couldn’t find on this side."
• "lol whatever, you whore. you can be a fucking bitter anti but don't you dare come crawling back to us when louis and harry come out. Wow, i actually had faith in you, you fake bitch. have fun being up antis' asses."

Tumblr ask sent to Shit Larries Say/anticonspiracist, 2022:

Fell for it too in the beginning of this year. YouTube is massproducing larries. I think I made it out 4 months later. I sometimes still see comments I wrote back then when I get a response from someone and then I’m shocked about not only what I commented there but also how much time I wasted involving myself in that crap. It taught me a lot tho and I will take that lesson with me. I never was a babygater but I did believe they are together these days and also the bear conspiracy. I totally bought it. Good god.😭💀I found your podcast after a while and I hated you at first of course…but well. It made me realize how much I did fool myself and how manipulative larries are. My first fandom experience wrapped. Following you was as good choice, definitely. It’s just sad I found Louis music through this bs and not in a normal and healthy way. Anyways.🤍

"Larries Ruined X"

Non-Larrie fans often complain that "Larries ruined" various aspects of the fandom. Examples of things they feel were tainted or ruined by Larries include:

• Harry and Louis' friendship/relationship (by making them self-conscious/putting them in an uncomfortable position/driving them apart)
• Rainbow flags (see also: Rainbow Direction#Controversy)
• Certain songs (such as "Home," "Little Things," "18" and more by One Direction, "Secret Love Song" by Little Mix, "Two Ghosts," "Golden" or "Sweet Creature" on Harry's solo album) by making them Larry evidence or saying that they were written about Larry.

Larries frequently repeat this phrase, either to refute it, or ironically when captioning what they see as Larry "proof."

Fan Conflicts and Boycotts

Conflicts between Larries and non-Larries are frequent instigators of One Direction Fandom Wars, and bullying both by Larries and of Larries has been reported. Larries have complained that non-larries and people outside the fandom unfairly assume that the worst-behaving larries are representative of all Larries. One fan made a tumblr blog, Larries are Problematic Like Everyone Else, pushing back against larrie protestations of innocence and to differentiate believing in Larry from "larries".

My point has never been that Antis are good or that other groups don’t act badly. My point is that while I constantly see Larries deny any wrongdoing, I also constantly see them doing wrong.... There are reasons beyond homophobia or stupidity that people have come to dislike Larries. There’s a reason some people who believe in Larry won’t call themselves Larries because they don’t want to be associated with Larries.

Many non-larries do not want to support fan projects that are run by or are too closely associated with larries due to the perception that these projects are in fact promoting Larry. Some projects like Rainbow Direction, Project No Control and other charity drives have claimed that they are not about Larry or shipping, but non-larries don't believe them.

Post-Babygate, some tumblr anti-larries developed the talk points that larries' behavior had become so egregious that they should be actively excluded from the fandom. Several boycotts were started. When anti-larries asked the mods of 1d bigbang in 2017 what their stance on tinhats was, the mods' response managed to antagonize both larries and anti-larries, who each made alternative big bangs with contrasting rules (see New One Direction Big Bang and The 1D Collab), which may have hastened the end of 1d bigbang.

Offensive Larrie Arguments

When new information about bandmembers is reported and larries analyze it and brainstorm new theories to explain why Larry is still real, sometimes their analyses and theories have offended 1D fans, other fans, and/or non-fans. People have criticized larrie theories for being racist, sexist, or homophobic. Comments like "larries have sunk to new lows" would circulate, and fans would get angry at larries all over again.

Louis Tomlinson's mother died in 2016, and one of his sisters died in 2019; other fans were outraged by some comments by larries (larries argued that anti-larries were the outrageous ones for using the tragedies to criticize larries). When Louis's son was born, some larries decided that the baby was a reborn doll, and one fan bought a doll and posed it in imitation of publicly shared photos of the child; other fans were deeply upset and offended.

Larrie theories about Harry and Louis's "public girlfriends" were heavily criticized for being laced with sexist comments and attitudes. (For example, Larries referred to Louis's girlfriend Eleanor as "Elewhore" on Twitter.) Part of Babygate theorizing involved discrediting the mother of Louis's child, and observers expressed disapproval of larries' sexist attitude toward her.

In Everything I Need I Get From You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It, journalist Kaitlyn Tiffany described an incident a Black fan had told her about how upsetting it was when larries explained away Louis saying the N word in the infamous 2014 weed video as his management staging the video to force a false frat boy persona on him.

Homophobia

Other fans have objected to the larrie theory that H/L are being forcibly closeted. From fail_fandomanon:

I think that the type of tinhatters who actively harass people consider themselves as crusaders as a sort, defending the people that they like against the money-hungry PR//family members/other fans who are victimizing them but if you dig into that, imo, it starts to circle around into being pretty homophobic. Having to compromise between various aspects of your life is [something] LGBT people do everyday, and deciding to prioritize one thing over another (in this case staying closeted in order to have a fulfilling career), although it can be devastating to have to do it, does not make it a wrong choice, or you a bad person. But with all the emphasis on then having been deprived of the choice by evil PR gives me the sense that the Larries do in fact think that staying closeted is a bad choice. And that really pisses me off.

LGBTQ+ anti-larries do not appreciate larrie claims that anti-larries are homophobes who hate the idea of Harry and Louis in a relationship. Meanwhile antis have argued that a lot of elements of larrie theories rely on gay stereotypes and that their obsession with the truth of strangers' sexual orientation is creepy, invasive, and fetishizing.

[anonymous]

You antis come across as homophobic sometimes. At least Larries and Ziams take into consideration the LGBT movements. And the possibility that these boys are gay. You say let's not assign sexualities and then you call them straight. How is that not homophobic? And btw no I'm not a tinhat.

[someday-graves]

Where do tinhats give a shit about any LGBT movement? What the fuck is this bullshit you’ve been fed?

Where do tinhats help me, a bisexual female, when about 80% of their theories uphold bi-erasure?....

I’m sure the LGBT+ community loves to be fetishized every second of every fucking day. I love reading about how Louis’s wrist is gay. I love reading about how Harry’s brave and commendable attempt at being a real LGBT+ ally is a secret message to his fanatic, borderline moronic “fans” who obsess over the idea of him being fucked raw by his bandmate while being filmed, so they can later feast on the sight....

I’m sure assuming someone’s sexuality when they’ve explicitly stated they don’t want to label themselves is a prime fucking example of how to be an LGBT+ ally.

Larries have also managed to offend journalists and other non-fans. For example, in November 2016, Vanity Fair journalist Richard Lawson (who is gay) tweeted,

Being lectured about my gay correctness by kids who are so post-AIDS that their biggest tragedy is an imagined boy band relationship

Larry fandom as Trump: thought it was a fun joke we were all making together, realized way too late that crazy people actually believed it....

The only thing that made me anti-Larry was Larries. They're mean and obsessive and harassing.

Larries as a Cult?

Twitter fans react to Liam Payne calling larries a cult.

Some non-larries, especially anti-larries and ex-larries, have described larries as a cult or cult-like. Some Twitter comments:

• "why do ex larries act like they were in a cult?? like literally no one forced you to be a larrie you did that to yourself mf..."
• "Found this check list of church/cult red flags. Coloured in those that applied to larries."
• "(most) larries are basically in a cult and y'all will do ANYTHING to prove that louis & harry are together. it's so annoying"

From an ex-larrie on Tumblr in 2016:

I have been brainwashed for a long time and when you’re damaged like that, it’s hard to exist in a completely different part of the fandom other than the larrie side.... This is how badly i’ve been manipulated by the big larries. they are a cult.

Exchange between a larrie and an ex-larrie support blog:

[gimmesomethingbritish]

This isn’t a cult or smth for it to be “hard to exit”. I understand that some people may get hate for leaving and that’s fucked up, but don’t make all of us, Larries into this huge fucking monster, cause that’s just not true.

[exlarriessupport]

Firstly, I have not made Larries into monsters, because they’re not.... Secondly, the Larrie part of the fandom isn’t necesarrily a cult, but it does share some characteristics. [Mind, this is not me claiming it is a cult]. It is, however, a difficult side to exit. I have talked to a lot of ex-Larries, and even though it depends on how much you shipped Larry or were involved in the Larrie part of the fandom, they all experienced difficulties. Since you’re a Larrie, this part might be difficult to understand because you haven’t had to deal with realising what you firmly believed was true, was in fact, not.

In a 2015 interview with Attitude magazine, Liam Payne also compared larries to a cult, saying

It becomes like a conspiracy or like a cult, the people who watch them and think that every move they make is a gesture toward them being together, and I know it’s just not true and it makes me mad.

Fans on twitter reacted immediately to Liam's comment.

Many larries were not pleased by being labeled a cult, but other larries claimed the "cult" label with pride or posted jokes about being in a cult. Some larries believed that Liam's comments were why other fans started calling them a cult.

In Wider Fandom

Larries have acquired a poor reputation across many fan communities. Not all fan communities may use the terms Tinhat or Breaking the Fourth Wall, but Larries are widely known as fans who violate the rules of fandom.

Fans have shared lurid tales of harassment and stalking attributed to larries far beyond 1D fandom. For example, someone shared this anecdote in the gossip subreddit Fauxmoi in 2022 in response to the question "Craziest Stan/Fandom Behavior and/or drama?":

A Larry recently met Louis at a bar/restaurant and did the most unhinged thing ever. They approached him and did the whole “I’m a fan” speech. They got a conversation and a picture out of it.

The fan just watched him and his friends all night and as soon as they left, ran to his table with the swab kit they had hidden and swabbed the glass cup he was drinking out of. This is for them to do DNA paternity testing.

I’m not exactly sure how they plan on getting any of his son’s DNA to actually complete this test but I’m scared.

Is it true? Who knows. But other incidents such as a fan driving six hours (roundtrip) to buy a copy of Louis's son's birth certificate to check if it was fake were confirmed by the fan who did it, so even the most outrageous story is likely to be believed.

In panfandom fanfiction forums fans sometimes debate the ethics of RPF, and larries are often mentioned, either as a reason not to support RPF or as an example of what not to do by RPF supporters:

I feel like mainly RPF gets a bad rep because of that subset of people who truly believe that their RPF reflects reality in some way, to the point where it negatively impacts the real people they’re writing about. Harry Styles apparently once said that Larry fics damaged his real-life relationships and Dan Howell had panic attacks over Phan-fics. Some are good sports about it (Ian and Anthony of Smosh used to have a series where they read fanfiction about themselves and they basically alternated between laughing their asses off and gagging in disgust), some aren’t okay with it because it crosses boundaries like you mentioned.

Agree. It's the crazy ones (and they do seem to be in every fandom) that give it a bad rap. Going to cons and watching them ask the actors about it is so cringe worthy it makes you ashamed to be in fandom at all. Or seeing them bully WAGS on twitter etc, it gives everyone, not just RPF but the entire fandom, a bad name. The content itself is whatever, to each their own. It's the RL behaviour of these writers that's the problem.

The harmful part comes in when you as a fan firmly believe it’s real and end up harassing the celebrities & fam in question. If you end up asking about it again and again at panels or on whichever social medium the celebrity uses. It’s harmful if a celebrity has expressed their discomfort with a ship (and the subsequent fan fiction) and keeps getting hounded with it by fans. It can ruin friendships. And even if I personally think writing fics about ships like Larry Stylinson should be fine, I’m not okay with bringing it to their attention. You keep it to yourself, on Tumblr or AO3, in your own niche fandom corner with other people who may enjoy the ship.

So, yeah. Ground rules of RPF: you keep it to you and your fandom niche; you always acknowledge it isn’t reality, it’s fiction, and you can therefore never rely on it for truth; and you do NOT, under ANY circumstance, bring these works to the attention of the celebrities they’re about unless they ask for it (and even then…).

I really dont like it, especially because it seeps into the actual lives and perceptions of the celeberties; i.e the larry theorists. I think rpf, especially those that tend to mischaracterize/is sexual or dark in nature are gross violations of privacy.

With that said people have a right to write and enjoy them. I also have the right to (silently) judge these people.

Larries and Academics

At least a few Larries have framed the issue of Larries' poor reception as other fans uncomfortable with their fourth wall violations or reacting out of internalized shame; Larry Stylinson "shoved stigmatized ways of performing fandom into the public eye." This reading of the fandom's motivation may have been prompted by the One Direction chapters in the scholarly edited volume Seeing Fans (2016). They cite Bethan Jones's chapter:

Dare-Edwards (2014b) notes that there is little tolerance for Larry shippers, partly because “Larry supporters are discounting or questioning official PR-driven narratives about the boys’ relationship” (p. 6) and partly because some Larry shippers sent questions, sexually explicit theories, or fan art to the band, thus breaking the fourth wall, which deconstructs the boundaries between fans, creators, and the objects of fandom.

In another chapter, titled "Crazy About One Direction: Whose Shame Is It Anyway?", Daisy Asquith, the filmmaker behind the 2013 documentary Crazy About One Direction, commented that fans were upset at the documentary for exposing Larry to the general public, though Asquith characterized it not as a fourth wall violation but as a fan reaction born out of internalized shame brought on by "three years of negative and patronizing media representations of Directioners." Asquith argued that "in moving Larry from Tumblr to television, my film may have decontextualized it, but the fears and fury of fans result from their understanding of the total unacceptability of teenage female desire in patriarchal society."

Neither chapter appears to differentiate between Larries and Larry shippers.

Larries as Tinhats

Many non-Larrie One Direction fans, as well as fans outside the fandom, have used the traditional fannish term tinhat to describe Larries, while some Larries consider the term offensive. See Larry Is Real - Tinhats for details.

Other Resources

• Fireproof, a short documentary by a film student featuring interviews with a larrie and a former larrie (May 4, 2017)