Did Louis Tomlinson’s Sister Slam Cruel One Direction Fans Who Say Baby Is A Fake?

The Sun is reporting that Louis Tomlinson’s sister Phoebe Tomlinson has come forward slamming Directioners for sending cruel tweets about Louis and Briana’s “fake” baby.

It’s sickening that most of you believe that a baby could be fake! It’s time for you to all grow up now.

The Sun notes that many of the most twisted babygate tweets came from fans obsessed with the “Larry” theory — that Louis and bandmate Harry Styles are in a secret gay relationship. The report goes on to note that “the fans’ reasons for doubting the existence of ‘Baby Tomlinson’ are varied” but the common thread seems to be “a distrust of Briana, the 24-year-old US stylist who fell pregnant by the 1D pin-up during a non-committed relationship last summer.”

@1D_Beards Daisy & Phoebe DO NOT have Twitter X

— Johannah Deakin (@JohannahDarling) October 30, 2015

Many One Direction watchers will know immediately to be suspicious of this report — Phoebe Tomlinson is thought not to have a Twitter account.

In fact, Louis Tomlinson’s mother Johannah Deakin took to Twitter some time back to make it clear which of her children do and do not have Twitter accounts, to clear up misunderstandings that arise when people claiming to be related to Louis make outlandish claims.

Johannah stated at the time that Phoebe does not have an account.

In addition to this, a quick click on the profile of the person claiming to be Phoebe Tomlinson will show you that Louis does not follow her. Surely Louis would follow his little sister? He follows Lottie Tomlinson, mum Johannah, and everyone in his family who has a confirmed account.

So while many of the tweets about Louis’ child were indeed quite mean-spirited or misguided, it appears this particular Sun story is bogus.

.@GemmaAnneStyles on how harmful fake celeb social media accounts can actually be https://t.co/t11SOawbZg pic.twitter.com/7kIZVnLnoo

— The Debrief (@TheDebrief) January 23, 2016

Interestingly, Harry Styles’ sister Gemma has just published an opinion article on The Debrief about fake social media accounts and the damage they can cause.

I think it’s a far more common phenomenon than most people realise, and they can take on many forms. There are the more innocent [fake accounts] – think those hastily whipped up social media accounts used to snoop on an ex without fear of identification (probably not the healthiest way to spend your time post-break-up, but generally not too threatening either). And then there are the full-on impersonation accounts. Whether it’s ex friends using fake accounts to post as the other person to embarrass or attack one another, to the full-on catfish experience, it’s not something that gets enough attention.

I should know – I’ve experienced more than my fair share of impersonation. A quick Facebook search for ‘Gemma Styles’ will at any time conjure up at least 50 profiles with my face on them.

As for the cruel baby tweets, Unreality TV has pointed out that only a small number of Directioners were sending the vitriol out on social media.

[T]o post abuse online about a newborn baby is vile.

As one Directioner tweeted, “Idk if Briana has had her baby. Idk the paternity of the baby.

“But wishing death on a child is the worst thing this fandom has done.”

Of course, as ever, it’s only a very small minority of One Direction fans who make up the group of people who will be so disgusting, and the vast majority of 1D fans would never dream of behaving like that, but sadly for those fans, the small minority of the fandom are the ones who give them all a bad name.

Unreality TV also raises some questions about whether the Larry theory is feasible, and whether PR teams have the mighty power many One Direction fans seem to think they do:

[T]he fact is, this is 2016, and the days of PR men and women covering up gay relationships is long, long, long over.

And what I’ve always been fascinated by is why it hasn’t occurred to the ‘Larry’ fans that, given there is clearly so much support out there for the notion of Harry and Louis being a couple, don’t you think that if they were, their PR team would have latched onto that like barnacles on a boat hull and milked it for all it was worth?

Of course they would.

Has Louis Tomlinson become a father? Are Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson in a secret gay relationship?

[Photo by: KGC-161/STAR MAX/IPx]