Liam Payne Shoves Louis Tomlinson On Stage — Gets Annoyed When Fans Assume They’re Fighting

Things have not been easy for the boys of One Direction since one of their star members, Zayne Malik, left the band. But are the band mates actually feuding, or are they simply playing around? Many One Direction fans aren’t sure after watching Liam Payne shove his friend Louis Tomlinson on stage during a performance.

According the Mirror, footage of Liam Payne getting irritated with Louis Tomlinson during a song has been circulating around the net. Payne can be seen lowering his microphone and shouting something at Tomlinson, before pushing him out of his way. Fans reasonably assumed this was an act of genuine annoyance, but the two One Direction members have since made light about the interaction.

Louis Tomlinson posted a picture to his Instagram account, showing him and Liam Payne face to face, ready to beat each other up. He added the caption “Watch your back [Liam Payne].” Of course the photo was posed as a joke, in response to the swarm of Twitter users who feared the boys were really mad at each other.

Some One Direction followers got the gag immediately, writing responses like, “THIS IS THE CUTEST THING IVE EVER SEEN.”

But some people still didn’t get it, thinking there was actual One Direction in-fighting taking place behind the scenes; namely Heat World, which called the video of Liam Payne shoving Tomlinson “shocking.” Liam Payne seemed to lose his patience at this point and sent out two tweets addressing the rumors about him and Louis Tomlinson.

Simply the funniest story I’ve read to date clearly the person who wrote this has never experienced friendly banter in their life

— Liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) October 5, 2015

http://t.co/kFvOwC1EOI… OH MY GOD THATS SO OUTRAGEOUS HOW DARE I HAVE A JOKE WITH A FRIEND ON STAGE

— Liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) October 5, 2015

Louis Tomlinson continued to joke about the now-infamous shove, confirming it wasn’t really mean-spirited, but warning that there’d be “consequences” if it was.

@Real_Liam_Payne you wouldn’t dare push me seriously **boy! You know the consequences ?????

— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) October 7, 2015

But was the interaction between Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson all in good fun like the boys claim? Fans who attended the One Direction concert when the shove took place claim there was obvious tension between the band mates. Louis Tomlinson reportedly kept leaving the stage for unknown reasons, and he and Liam Payne appeared to be having an authentic “disagreement.”

However, a representative for One Direction has denied these claims entirely, leaving fans to speculate what was really wrong that night.

Teen magazine J-14 isn’t convinced that the feud is real, insisting that people have misinterpreted the gesture and that Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson “can make each other laugh like no other.”

If you want to see the notorious “shove” between Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson for yourself, check out the video below.

Do you think Liam Payne was seriously mad at his buddy?

Fans of One Direction can’t help but connect this mysterious fight — playful or otherwise — to the fact that the band is scheduled to take an indefinite hiatus starting in March of next year. The plan is to give the members time to pursue solo careers, but some wonder if the guys are getting sick of each other.

Liam Payne was one of the first to admit that One Direction needs a break, claiming that he wants to dedicate to writing more songs by himself and with his girlfriend. Read more about that here.

[Image credit: Stuart C. Wilson, Anthony Harvey / Getty Images; Louis Tomlinson, Instagram]