Like many others surely reading this, I was a Directioner who was devastated to read the news about former member Liam Payne’s tragic death at a Buenos Aires hotel on October 16. When I first read the news, it was an article TMZ had posted just twenty minutes prior, and as shocked as I was by the breaking news, I was even more disturbed when I briefly saw the pictures TMZ included of Payne’s corpse. After immediately closing TMZ to discuss the tragic news with my roommates, text my friends and sisters, and begin reading more articles and social media posts on the incident, I entered into the uniquely emotional and parasocial media vortex response to the boy band star’s tragic death.
In the subsequent days after Payne’s death, there was an outpour on social media that could only spew from the devoted and infatuated One Direction fandom. My For You page on TikTok was filled with people crying listening to One Direction songs, expressing that a part of their childhood had died. As sad as I was by the death of a star I loved in my youth, to me, these (in my opinion, dramatic) responses overshadowed the grief of his friends and family, using their parasocial grief for views.
Even further, the social media frenzy intensified the backlash and confusion surrounding Payne’s recent abuse allegations. Just two days before Payne’s death, his former fiancée Maya Henry went on the podcast The Internet is Dead to talk about her toxic and allegedly abusive relationship with Payne. This slew of allegations not only led to harassment of Henry after Payne’s death, but it also led to a section of the internet that said they were happy or grateful Payne was dead.
Amidst this overwhelming media response, Cheryl Cole, the mother of Payne’s son Bear, posted to Instagram to ask to be more respectful in their social media posts about the tragedy. In a particularly gut-wrenching line, she said, “What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days.” After consuming so much of this media exploitation, the thought of his son seeing any of it after losing his father absolutely disgusted me.
There is no doubt that we should never deny victims of domestic abuse the opportunity to speak out; however, using those fresh allegations to justify the media exploitation of such an untimely death is horrifically insensitive, especially when he has family and friends who are actively and will continue to grieve. Additionally, outlets like TMZ that post pictures of Payne’s dead body and a video of him falling to his death to add to the Directioner media frenzy for the sake of their viewership deserve the utmost condemnation.
After the initial wave of parasocial grief, something interesting happened: a Directioner revival. It started with beloved clips of Payne recirculating from his One Direction days. Soon, I and many people I know who were never even fans of One Direction saw a huge resurgence of traditional Directioner fandom media. Nevertheless, this revival is another reminder of the devoted, crazed, parasocial, and often toxic behavior of the One Direction fandom.
For example, edits and clips of “Larry Stylinson,” Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson’s ship fandom have flooded social media. Admittedly, I was engaged in this stan behavior throughout my childhood, but the “Larry” shipping, in particular, was a phenomenon that was at best weird and at worst toxic and destructive. I have loved seeing clips and memes of the whole band again, but it’s peculiar that the tragic, untimely death of one band member has led to a revival of posts shipping two other band members.
The whole response to Liam Payne’s death has been an unexpected manifestation of the unique craziness of the One Direction fandom. Throughout the band’s popularity and even afterward, the One Direction fandom was characterized as overly attached and uniquely parasocial on a massive scale. From tearful odes to harassing his former partners to reigniting the dangerous and boundary-crossing aspects of the fandom, it’s clear some things never change— especially Directioners.
insufferable poli sci major and opinions connoisseur
