'Euphoria' Airs Graphic Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson Sex Scene, and Fans Are Outraged

HBO's Euphoria, starring Zendaya, has found another community to anger. One Direction fans are not [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

HBO's Euphoria, starring Zendaya, has found another community to anger. One Direction fans are not happy with the show after Sunday night's episode featured an animated sex scene between singers Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles. Fans have insisted HBO remove the scene.

In Sunday's episode, the series revealed that Kat (Barbie Ferreira) is a successful online fan fiction writer, notes Out. She earned some notoriety for pushing a conspiracy theory that Tomlinson and Styles are in a relationship. Then, Kat narrated one of her stories, specifically one about Tomlinson and Styles having sex backstage. The scene was animated in an anime style.

One Direction fans were annoyed at the show, especially for using the names of two of their favorite real-life singers.

"I'm? So? Confused? Who allowed Euphoria to use Harry & Louis' names? Are lou & harry aware that this happened? Like they must be-it's hbo so they probably had to like have some form of permission from lou & harry's management or them themselves but why would anyone allow that?" one fan wondered.

"just saw the euphoria scene of harry & louis & i'm so disgusted. louis clearly said that the ship ruined their friendship & some prick decided to air that on tv with their real names for everyone to see... if we're this uncomfortable i can't imagine how they're feeling," another tweeted.

"If euphoria really has an animated larry sex scene i am going to be LIVID that's so disrespectful and f– GROSS," another fan wrote.

Euphoria showrunner Sam Levinson already defended the decision to animate Kat's fan fiction instead of just having the character read it.

"Something that I thought was a fascinating or exciting idea was to take this burgeoning curiosity about sexuality that's ultimately framed through the lens of fan fiction and allow it to come to life," Levinson explained to the Los Angeles Times. "It's sort of what Kat's dream would be if she could see an animation of one of her stories. That was the impetus behind it. It's sort of allowing her wishes to come true."

Levinson went on to explain that Belladonna of Sadness, a graphic 1973 Japanese anime film, was an influence on the scene.

"Personally, I find animation to be extremely difficult. I'd never worked with animation before," Levinson explained. "It's just, the possibilities are endless. Which at times can be tricky. It's like, 'So, where do we want to take this next?' And there's a million thoughts that start to move through my head. It doesn't have the same kind of confines as filmmaking, so it can be a bit daunting."

Euphoria attracted controversy from the moment it was revealed the show would take a graphic, uncompromising look at life for high school students in a digital age. Zendaya, who gained fame on the Disney Channel and now stars in the show, even warned her fans of its graphic content before the premiere.

New episodes of Euphoria air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.

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