Zayn Malik's decision to leave One Direction was distressing enough, but now, the singer and his former bandmates are publicly feuding online.
And heartbroken fans are helplessly watching the drama unfold.
[seealso slug="crying-teenagers-zayn"]
Malik, who already has a solo song, replied to what appears to be a subtweet directed toward him, sent by One Direction's Louis Tomlinson. For those who haven't been following the story closely (seriously, though, what else has even been going on?), here's a comprehensive guide.
It started on Monday, when 1D's Liam Payne Instagrammed a video with the caption "New fifth member? I think so,"suggesting that an unidentifiable man singing Aerosmith's "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" at karaoke should be Malik's replacement.
New fifth member? I think so A video posted by Liam Payne (@fakeliampayne) on May 4, 2015 at 12:55am PDT
Naughty Boy, the Sam Smith producer currently working with Malik on his solo album, defended Malik on Twitter, posting a photo of them together.
Replace this . pic.twitter.com/Dis0Tfd7cz— Naughty Boy (@NaughtyBoyMusic) May 6, 2015
That inspired Tomlinson's subtweet, calling out out Naughty Boy's choice of an outdated Photobooth filter.
Remember when you were 12 and you used to think those Mac filters for your pictures were cool haha ! Some people still do HA!— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) May 6, 2015
Malik struck back, asking Tomlinson to just let him live.
@Louis_Tomlinson remember when you had a life and stopped making bitchy comments about mine ?— zaynmalik (@zaynmalik) May 6, 2015
Meanwhile, Directioners are freaking out. The following screenshots are real text conversations between teenagers obtained by Mashable and published with their permission.
Fortunately, Fergie is helping them manage their tornado of emotions.
Stay strong, Directioners. These are troubling times.
