Some One Direction fans found something bad to sing about one of its members, and it didn't even have anything to do with the band's music.
Zayn Malik of the popular boy band One Direction weighed in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a divisive #FreePalestine tweet last July 27, 2014, and the post has been retweeted and favorited 200,000 times in the span of a day. But not all of Malik's 13 million followers tweeted in agreement. Fans from Israel expressed their disappointment on Twitter, with some even reportedly outraged enough to send Malik death threats.
Malik, 21, rose to fame in the singing competition X Factor. Music producer Simon Cowell, one of the show's judges, handpicked Malik to be a member of his pet project One Direction. The boyband became an instant worldwide hit after their debut album Up All Night topped the Billboard charts. Malik's controversial political tweet comes as a surprise to the die-hard tween fanbase One Direction has been known to have, especially since the boyband is mostly known for their feel-good love hits like What Makes You Beautiful and Best Song Ever, as well as their sweet, romantic image.
As of this writing, Malik still has not decided to take down the post even after the outpour of hate posts and reported death threats.
User @MsMelanie tweeted, "@zaynmalik: #FreePalestine." I knew there was a reason I never liked @onedirection How can you support terrorist? #FreeIsrael from #Hamas."
Another user had more profane words to say to the Story Of My Life crooner: @shilatpikado replied to his post with, "@zaynmalik u dont know nothing about this war So shut up your fucking mouth #FreeIsrael."
Rihanna tweeted the same hashtag earlier in July and did a proactive delete just minutes after. She replaced the tweet with a neutral "Let's pray for peace and a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict!"
Selena Gomez also called for prayers on Instagram, referencing families and babies injured and killed during attacks. But after her #wearethenextgeneration call on Instgram got some negative responses, she posted a palliative correction: "And of course to be clear, I am not picking any sides."
To date, over 1,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the on-going conflict between Israel and Hamas, an armed group that controls Gaza. Thousands of rockets have also been fired at Israel from the Palestine front, while armed Israeli troops continue to target tunnels.
