Liam Payne Responds To Directioners’ Homophobia Allegations

Liam Payne has come under fire for an onstage comment some One Direction fans consider homophobic, and he was moved to defend himself on Twitter early this morning (August 19).

It all started when Liam was introducing "Girl Almighty" onstage (you know, the Four track that borrows heavily from Paul Simon's "The Obvious Child") and he attempted to explain the song's meaning. "It's about trying to find that number one woman in your life — which none of you can relate to, since most of you are girls, except for the boys in here. YOU know what I'm talking about!"

That intro didn't sit quite right with some fans who felt the singer was suggesting girls don't ever want to date other girls — or at the very least, that girls who enjoy One Direction are exclusively heterosexual. Twitter user @lostboyLouis said, "God loves me and made me take my niece to the bathroom during girl almighty, because if not, Liam would probably not have a head right now."

While Liam's comment did fail to cover the lesbian and bisexual faction of 1D's fanbase, this would be a great opportunity for Directioners to learn a new word if they don't know it already. Heteronormative is defined as "denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation." Heteronormative loosely translates as "aggressively heterosexual," and it's often — though certainly not always — more about ignorance than hatred. A greeting cards selection that only speaks to male-female relationships would be one example of heteronormativity. A pop star neglecting to acknowledge the possibility of non-heterosexual romance would be another.

Liam had little patience for fans who tried to police his gender politics, though. He responded in a series of casually misspelled tweets, saying, "lol think some people take things to literal these days not gunna comment on it anymore you guys know what I meant it was meant in general."

He went on to say, "So annoying trying your hardest to make people happy in a show and you think about all the notes u tried to hit higher or a little sweeter, And all some people want to concentrate on was a throw away statement about a song that I love."

After a few more "sorry you feel that way" apology tweets, Liam ended with "I'm just here to make people smile I kinda consider it my job role." As he puts metaphorical ice on his emotional wounds, maybe Liam should take time to reflect on his band's diverse — and at times, politically engaged — fanbase.

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