The Latest Euphoria Episode Featured Animated, Erotic One Direction Fan Fiction, and Louis Tomlinson Isn’t Happy About It

Every new episode of HBO’s Euphoria brings something to the table. The first episode featured Zendaya smuggling clean urine into a bathroom to pass a drug test and another character cutting themselves with a steak knife at a house party, the second episode featured an absurd amount of full-frontal male nudity that acquired infamy even before airing and, expectedly, Monday night’s episode followed suit.

Euphoria’s newest episode truly ventured into the depths of fleeting teenage niche interests by focusing on a character, Kat, who just so happens to be a popular erotic One Direction fan-fiction writer. The episode frames the character writing about a smutty encounter between bandmates Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson (the duo that make up the “Larry Stylinson” fictional couple) before the first night of the Take Me Home tour, and an animated rendering of the story is shown onscreen.

So, yes, cartoon renderings of Styles and Tomlinson fooling around backstage aired on HBO, and it looks like the latter member of the duo is not happy about it.

Earlier Tuesday, Tomlinson responded to the animated sex scene in a tweet, writing: “I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.” Styles has yet to comment on the issue, and further comments on behalf of either musician have yet to be made publicly.

I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.

— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) July 1, 2019

Interestingly, in an interview with THR, Barbie Ferreira, the actress portraying Kat, said the One Direction storyline was one of the first things that popped out to her when she read the script.

“It’s such a reality for so many people, and so many children and teens that are fans just have this escapist world,” Ferreira told the outlet. “You completely give yourself to this persona of a person you don’t even know, or five guys, and imaging the way they interact the escaping from your own reality.”

Despite this, fan reactions to the scene have been largely lukewarm at best, with one fan writing on Twitter, “They were sexualising them trying to say that our fandom is like that. We support love, LOVE, not only that type of scenes.”

It’s well-known One Direction lore that the unrelenting Larry Stylinson conspiracy theory—that is, the fan-led belief that the two members are secretly pursuing a romantic relationship with one another—ruined the members’ existing friendship, so this is likely only adding fuel to the fire.

Tune in next Monday for the newest installment of Did That Really Air on Euphoria Last Night?

You can check out the (NSFW) scene in question below.