Entertainment

Fans Are Calling Out Harry Styles For Using A Bandana As A Mask On Twitter

by Brendan Wetmore
Jim Dyson/Redferns/Getty Images

Every artist's fanbase wants what's best for them, and oftentimes their only means of communication with their fave is through social media. After pictures began circulating of Harry Styles wearing a bandana out in public, his fans decided to take his and others' safety into their own hands. The tweets telling Harry Styles to wear a mask are all over the place, because while some are earnest pleas for him to heed health experts' advice, others accuse people of having dubious motivation for drawing so much attention to his mistake.

On Jan. 6, thousands of fans took to Twitter to encourage Styles to don a proper mask and help stop the spread of COVID-19. The trending hashtag #HarryWearAMask was originally in response to a photo of Styles donning a bandana face-covering instead of a cloth face mask. According to experts, bandanas are not as effective in stopping the spread of coronavirus as cloth masks or surgical masks. Fans trended the tag quickly, calling the former One Direction member out for his mistake. "It's okay to call your favourite celebrities out," one user tweeted in response to the trending tag. "Pointing out [...] mistakes doesn't make you any less of a fan, just remember that."

The positive tone in many of the Stylers' call-outs demonstrated truly how much they care about Styles and his health. While there were a few memes here and there, most of his fans just wanted him to stay safe and set a good example for the rest of the world.

While many of the Stylers asking Styles to wear a mask were genuinely concerned for his and others' health and safety, some fans are calling into question the motivations of the fans who got the tag trending, pointing out Styles has often been seen adhering to safety guidelines to the T. To them, the current backlash to a single instance of the bandana-clad singer seemed disproportionate to his misdeed. Some fans went as far as suggesting the reaction may actually have more to do with the fact Styles was PDA-ing with his rumored new girlfriend, Olivia Wilde, in the photos.

As with most One Direction-related drama, the entire trending topic quickly devolved into a shipping war, with some suggesting the original photos of Styles and Wilde were planned by "management" for publicity, others accusing fans of disingenuously preaching about mask safety when, in reality, they're just reeling over news of Styles and Wilde's rumored romance, and then there are some insisting their intentions were pure.

Ultimately, what's clear is, Harry Styles' fans care about him a lot.