Liam Payne, Beliebers, And Directioners Went To War While Justin Bieber Kept His Chill
Liam Payne ignited an apocalyptic fandom face-off between the reasonable Beliebers and famously laid back Directioners when he hit back at a totally unnecessary tweet sent by a fan which unfavorably compared One Direction to Justin Bieber.
On Monday, a Ariana Grande-Biebs fan taunted him, asking, “@Real_Liam_Payne Isn’t it kinda depressing for you to know that Justin Bieber will always be more successful than you?”
An understandably miffed Payne fired back, “how many times have I been arrested.”
Flatline.
In nanoseconds, Beliebers and Directioners took up arms as they defended their idols with frothing abandon, diamond hard memes, and a total loss of fandom chill.
Justin Bieber fans rightfully brought up their boy’s months of apologies as good reason not continually throw his missteps back in his face. Equally rightfully, Directioners argued that Liam didn’t start the drama and simply responded to a clearly rude tweet.
And the fan who started it all? Amid a flurry of rage tweets, she punched out the delightful “#BeliebersWantOneDirectionDead” hashtag. It didn’t catch on.
But “#LiamHasNoChill” did, and easily soared to the top of trending topics on Twitter in the U.S and worldwide. Gossip Cop reports Beliebers used the hashtag first to mock Payne’s evident anger. However, Directioners “took it over” and proceeded to use it to bask in the reflected glow of their boy’s sass.
Cue back and forth between Bieber fans and 1D/Payne devotees. “LiamHasNoChill” was still riding high by Tuesday morning. Then it was gone. But not forgotten.
“@_stylesss09: another day another slay! #LIAMHASNOCHILL pic.twitter.com/cCbPWycpWE” U got the right expressions for this @Harry_Styles
— Ferhana Loves Zayn (@ferhana_m) March 24, 2015
fandom be like rn #LIAMHASNOCHILL pic.twitter.com/PCkNx4khs6
— PCD!!! PUTANGINA (@hxrrystyl) March 24, 2015
I would like to apologize to justin and beliebers bc even tho it was a joke, that was still rude of Liam. Justin deserves a lot of respect.
— ljp (@NiamsRoyal) March 23, 2015
“liam is fat and looks like a whale” EXCUSE YOU #LIAMHASNOCHILL pic.twitter.com/XtcZTskoxq
— PCD FCK!!1!!11 (@meteoritelwt) March 24, 2015
*cough cough* pic.twitter.com/TpvEDaPDQb
— kim (@bizzlemybiebxr) March 24, 2015
Payne’s Twitter blast at Justin Bieber (although, really, it was more likely over that fan’s question), came after he incurred Directioners’ wrath when he teasingly covered up band mate Zayn Malik’s face, following Malik’s temporary exit from the group’s tour due to love life “stress.”
After some Directioners slammed him for that, Liam tweeted, “Some people can’t take a joke … Bit of banter guys chill out.”
All in all, the behavior of Payne, some Beliebers, and some Directioners was basic Twitter one-upmanship and isn’t terribly important. For his part, Bieber stayed out of the trenches. After nearly two years of getting bashed on Twitter, does anyone blame him for sitting this one out?
[Images via Getty Images]
