God help us all.
Rabid fans of Niall Horan are distressed over a segment from Friday's RTÉ Comic Relief show.
The segment sees Niall Horan performing over video-link for the old-school Den team, including Ray D'Arcy, Zig and Zag, and Dustin the Turkey. Dustin, as is his wont, interrupted Niall mid-performance and said that he preferred Horan's former bandmate Harry Styles.
The Horan stans did not like it one bit (in case you're unfamiliar with the term 'stans,' it just means hardcore, online fans who behave in a way reminiscent of the eponymous Stan from the Eminem song 'Stan.') They are now seeking justice from RTÉ.
In one series of tweets which have gone viral, one of Niall's diehards wrote: "Some people in my mentions are missing the whole point of this not being funny, we get it’s Irish humour and we get that the puppet generally “insults” people for comedy but there’s a line that can be crossed when you put down an artist while speaking highly of another.
"It was disrespectful the way they cut him off and sure if it was part of the sketch then okay but saying they want h (Harry) instead of n (Niall)? That’s disrespectful cause putting it out there like that was giving out the idea that they’re being compared which wasn’t necessary."
https://twitter.com/NiallWWUpdate/status/1277070141109309443?s=20
As a result, 'Niall Horan' has been trending in Ireland, with many using a #RespectNiallHoran tag. People have tried to explain the situation to them but they don't seem particularly interested in grasping reality.
Others have been seen searching for Ray D'Arcy's social media channels, and some are using the hashtag #RTERayShowRespectNiallHoran. Which is a bit of a mouthful.
Another page, called Niall Updates, which boasts 145,000 followers on Twitter wrote: "That “humor” is extremely messed up because they cut off his performance and there is already comparison between Niall and Harry through the media. It’s not Harry's fault for this happening but the media itself. That’s putting him down in a way as an artist.
"If Niall did not get offended then he should speak on it because clearly his fans are upset and are trying to defend him."
So yeah. Good luck with this lot Niall, we'll leave you to it.
