Harry referenced Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne as ‘brothers’ but threw Zayn — who was the first to leave the group in 2015 — some serious shade!
Harry Styles, 25, is back on the stage at 30 Rock! The Brit pulled double duty as host and musical guest on Saturday, Nov. 16 and threw some serious — and, um — unexpected shade in his opening monologue! “I love those guys,” he said, referring to his former One Direction bandmates. “They’re my brothers. Niall, Louis, Liam and…mmm oh — Ringo!” Twitter immediately started freaking out over the legendary diss, which we’re about to break down for you.
The fifth member of 1D was, of course, Zayn Malik — however, “Ringo” refers to the iconic Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. Ringo infamously was the first member to leave The Beatles, and literally walking out amidst a tension-filled recording session for the album The Beatles in 1968 (also known as The White Album). Like Ringo, Zayn was also the first member to leave the wildly popular group — often thought of as The Beatles for a new generation — back in 2015. Zayn later dissed his former bandmates, whom he had worked with since their inception on The X Factor in 2010, calling the music “generic as f–k.” After his departure, Harry, Niall, Louis and Liam continued on as a foursome releasing their final album in 2015 and Zayn went on to have a successful solo career.
Fans immediately responded on social media, and some of the tweets were epic. “Zayn living in their minds rent free while they stay name dropping him hoping to get a reaction out of him,” Zayn stan @zicarusfalIz tweeted. “you try saying that again when your fave constantly gets s— just for simply EXISTING,” user @bohemian_blood added. “I love Harry, but I’m truly starting to lose faith in the other boys for not keeping their story straight with Zayn since his departure or they do little jabs like this. not cool,” they continued.
Harry fans also jumped in, defending their king! “In 4 yrs, he has not referred to Zayn,” @ishouldbesmokin wrote. “There was no shade. He did not have to mention Zayn. It is officially the 4 of them. He did it as someone who has an inside joke. It’s like Zayn is at home saying to the screen ‘That a** called me Ringo.’ Then text him like ‘Really, Ringo.’”