For many fans social media is a way to connect with their favourite artists, movie stars or TV personalities and to meet other fans who enjoy the same interests. Celebrities are more accessible than ever, but for managers, music labels, TV companies and movie studios- social media allows them to play narratives out in public to garner public interest for projects or to show PR relationships connected to projects, closeting or to give new faces a leg up in the industry.
The downside of social media is two fold because while artists are accessible, fans don’t always know if they are actually speaking to the person behind the account because frequently, especially with celebrities there are social media managers who control accounts and can interact with fans as though they are the person behind the account. Adele has spoken out about this and said that she doesn’t often have control over her own account.
Further public manipulation can occur via social media and PR narratives can be put out and furthered by sites such as Deuxmoi or TMZ. We’ve seen recently that PR hit jobs can take place if a person dares to step out and if you think your favourite celebrity is safe from these narratives- think again. No one is safe and all public figures have a public image that is managed and cultivated to sell a narrative or a product and while they are bound by contracts, artists, actors and TV stars have little to no say in how they are portrayed in public by the companies that control their images.
We’ve heard from multiple actors and musicians that they are condition to stay closeted to protect their careers by their label/ production teams and management teams. We also know from celebrities who speak out about abuse that they are often blackballed by the powers that be. Many people such as Colton Hayes (actor) to George Shelley (boyband member) to Mark Feehily (boyband member) have spoken out about how damaging and awful it is to be kept in a closet to sell themselves as hetrosexual.
Social media has a lot to answer for. If you go online and state that you think someone is queer, often you are told you are sick, wrong or insulting the celebrity in question. If you dare to think that a relationship is PR or a person is a beard (girlfriend or boyfriend used to cover up for the celebrity or celebrities being queer) you are called multiple names and told at times to harm yourself, age shamed for being an older fan or have your social media information shared so others attack you.
At this present time however Louis Tomlinson is apparently going around blocking fans of his on various social media platforms. One has to ask: why? Why is a celebrity actively going round blocking their own fans? Does that not seem counterintuitive? Is it because fans have been disrespectful? Or is it something else?
A lot of Louis fans are people who believe Louis and Harry Styles have been or are currently in a relationship and have been since very early on in One Direction. These fans have been around for as long as Louis has been in the public eye and it appears that now, fifteen years later his team have decided on the genius move of blocking fans of both Louis and Harry. I myself am one of these Larries and I fully believe Harry and Louis are together but I also am not disrespectful. I do not contact their families or friends and ask for proof that they are together.
But my point about blocking fans or fan comments is why now? My thoughts on the matter, after discussing with some very trusted friends is that fans of Louis and Harry, are also fans of Liam Payne and are fighting extremely hard to get justice for Liam’s untimely death. I fully believe that this campaign of blocking fans is to create discord and cause fandom drama to try and distract fans from fighting for Liam.
Why would Louis’ team care about fans fighting for Liam? Well, in reality Liam and Louis are still linked by the contracts they all signed in One Direction and beyond; Louis remains the only member of One Direction who publicly called out abuse of Liam that took place online. Further if Liam was murdered by the powers that be then fans fighting for justice for Liam is the last thing they want. They want to put fans back into their boxes because a united fandom is a powerful fandom and they fear that more than anything else.
Further if fans continue to call out abuse and lies online then it eventually reaches the public and the multiple conflicting stories over how Liam died are exposed leading to more questions being asked. Punishing Louis’ fans for doing this both hurts Louis, who’s never had much in the way of media or radio support and hurts loyal fans of Louis who are fighting to free all of the members of One Direction from the lies that are sold about them.
Why are fans suddenly disposable? What are his team thinking blocking fans who support him- regardless of their opinions on his personal life? These are people who go to shows, buy and stream his music and who buy his merch. What possible reason could he have for blocking instead of muting fans online? I know personally of one fan who is lovely and sweet and has been blocked for reasons she doesn’t know.
Why are his team or Louis himself going after fans if not to put a narrative out? It would not surprise me if this was a lead up to another denial or a series of articles about how invasive or disrespectful fans are. But why now? Many fans of Louis, including myself have been preoccupied with fighting for justice for Liam and are not going to get into drama online over this blocking spree, but it is something that I and many others can’t understand.
To Louis - you have our support, even if we are currently baffled by what’s going on, but I hope you know that fans are not disposable and that this is a very dangerous game to play because support is not unconditional and if this is some fodder for articles then it’s a really stupid approach (though my guess is it’s more your team than you personally).
We know Louis has little control over his social media and public narratives but destroying his relationship with fans seems stupid, ill conceived and at best an attempt to cause discord again, but now is not the time- so Louis team: do better! Just because you see fans as disposable doesn’t mean they are and guess what we’re still here, still supporting the real Louis and will still be fighting for freedom for Louis while also fighting for justice for Liam- so you lose.
Fans - please don’t blame Louis for what’s currently going on. He asked us to weather the storm with him, so hold fast and remember that Louis loves all his fans and he doesn’t take any of us for granted and while this approach is hurtful and stupid, it too shall pass and we’ll soon find out why this is taking place. And remember 25 and it’s all planned. He told us this when he released Just Like You, so hold fast and sit tight. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
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