This Week in Gossip #22

Larry conspiracies, Cannes line-ups, Joker musicals, and bad interviews.

1. Louis Tomlinson Is Tired of the Larry Conspiracies But Knows He Can’t Stop Them

Poor Louis Tomlinson. He just wants to make music and keep to himself, but he’s a former One Direction member so his life will forever be out of his control. He knows it too. And there’s one area where he’s especially waylaid by jackassery: the Larry conspiracy.

For those of you untouched by the mess that is fandom tinhatting, the Larry conspiracy is a fandom belief/delusion that Louis Tomlinson and his former bandmate Harry Styles are or were in a romantic relationship. There’s no proof of this, and indeed, Louis has called out the theory as being one of the things that made his actual friendship with Styles strained. The conspiracies got so heated that certain stalkers harassed and threatened the mother of Tomlinson’s son. Someone even got their hands on the boy’s birth certificate to “prove” he wasn’t Louis’s real son. It’s a whole thing.

In a recent interview, Louis talked again about the conspiracy and was clearly weighed down by the drama. He said, "What I realized a few years ago is that there is nothing I can say. There is nothing I can do to stop those who believe in this conspiracy. They are so connected to what they believe that they will not see the truth for what it really is. "I’m sure many people look and find all these little conspiracies that happen in life interesting."

I do feel for the guy. You can see in that clip how weary he is of the topic and how he can’t reason with people who have wholeheartedly rejected reality in favour of an increasingly unhinged conspiracy (and it was never particularly hinged to begin with.) Tomlinson’s son is now eight years old. He’s dated various women over the years. He hasn’t been seen in public with Styles for a long time. This is a man who has been famous for longer than he hasn’t been, and is now in his early 30s. His career is solid, if not at the commercial heights of 1D’s prime (only Styles has been able to top that), but he'll probably be forever defined by how the world saw and consumed him as an adolescent. There’s a solid percentage of his “fans” (and I hate to even call some of these obsessives by that word) who only want to see him as a guileless teenage boy. They want their blank canvas who doesn’t talk back or dare to refute their fantasies.

The Larry conspiracy, like any tinhat shipper theory, has long lost its roots in truth or even vague plausibility. The goalposts are now in perpetual motion, and any semblance of respect for the subject of their adoration has been tossed out the window. Just check Twitter for responses to his tired confession and you’ll see confirmation of his point. One wonders if this is a sunk cost fallacy issue for many: when you’ve invested years of your life into something you must know deep in your heart to be false, are you able to give it up or do you stumble further down the rabbit hole?

2. Sorry, I Did Not Hate the Joker: Folie à Deux Trailer

The first trailer for Joker: Folie a Deux premiered at 2024 Cinemacon before dropping online soon thereafter. Joaquin Phoenix returns to the role that won him an Oscar and he’s joined by the mother monster herself, Lady Gaga. Also, it’s a musical. The film will premiere in October of this year, so expect to see it play the fall festival circuit (please come to TIFF!)

As you can imagine, the internet had a lot of opinions on this trailer, which is heavily stylized, full of dreamy dance sequences, and lots of clown make-up. Also, Steve Coogan is there. Given how divisive the first film was, it’s no wonder that the follow-up is inciting similar emotions. Allow me to sacrifice all of my hard-earned critic cred to admit that I did not hate this trailer. I think it looks kind of cool. Sorry.