Of all the crazy things that have been shown so far on the HBO series “Euphoria,” including a scene of an older man sexually assaulting a teen transgirl, complete with a prosthetic phallus, it appears that in a recent episode, the series went too far in a most peculiar way.
Last weekend’s episode of “Euphoria” featured the animated recreation of a fan-fiction story that featured One Direction singers Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles involved in…well, intimate relations. (The scene can be found on YouTube if you’re so inclined.) While it’s not a “deep fake” situation, the show does clearly depict the two men, albeit animated, doing things that their real-life counterparts are likely not doing. Some might say that showing these sorts of images would require some approval from the men involved. Well, those people likely don’t work at HBO or on the set of “Euphoria.”
According to Tomlinson, via his social media, the One Direction megastar was not contacted by HBO or the people behind “Euphoria” about his likeness being used in such a way on the series. In fact, he wants to stress that emphatically.
“I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it,” said Tomlinson.
Of course, satire and parody are often exempt from these sorts of likeness laws. You can go on YouTube or in various other shows (“South Park” & “The Simpsons,” for example) and find the use of celebrities in not-so-flattering ways, often without permission from those being lampooned. So, it’s likely that Tomlinson and Styles (who has yet to issue a statement) will just have to live with it, with no legal recourse.
That being said, for fans of One Direction, the scene in “Euphoria” is being met with mixed feelings, to say the least. “Larries” (those that ‘ship Louis and Harry) are the ones that started this sort of business through fan-fiction, but many are going to Twitter, replying to Tomlinson’s tweet, saying how “disrespectful” and “shameful” the episode was, especially with its disregard of the One Direction’s members’ wishes.
If you want to see where the series will go next, “Euphoria” airs every Sunday night on HBO.
I can categorically say that I was not contacted nor did I approve it.
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) July 1, 2019
