Louis Tomlinson has said US TV network HBO used his likeness without his approval in teen drama series Euphoria, which depicts him having sex with former One Direction bandmate Harry Styles.
“I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it,” Tomlinson wrote on Twitter in reply to a fan query. Styles has not commented.
The scene in question features the character Rue Bennett, played by Zendaya, talking about fan fiction that another character writes about the singers. An animated sequence then depicts the imagined sexual tryst backstage at a concert.
The show, co-produced by rapper Drake, is based on the Israeli TV series of the same name, and follows a group of high-school students as they navigate love, anxiety and drug addiction. It is scripted by Sam Levinson, who wrote the movie Assassination Nation and the Bernie Madoff biopic The Wizard of Lies.
Barbie Ferreira, who plays the fan fiction author Kat, has said of the scene: “I can relate to that as a 22-year-old woman who lived through the One Direction age. It’s such a reality for so many people, and so many children and teens that are fans just have this escapist world. 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.”
Fans of One Direction often fantasised that Styles and Tomlinson were in a romantic relationship, giving them the portmanteau name Larry Stylinson. In 2017, Tomlinson described it as a “conspiracy” that damaged his relationship with Styles and was “disrespectful” to his girlfriend Eleanor Calder.
