1D'S LOUIS HITS BACK AT JOURNO IN ANGRY TWITTER RANT: 'I'M STRAIGHT'

One Direction star Louis Tomlinson put a smile on everybody's face last week as he appeared to publically show his support to the Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who came out as gay a few days earlier.

Wearing a T-Shirt with the original 1970s rainbow logo emblazoned across it, the world assumed that this was more than just incredibly coincidental timing and the popstar was using his influential position to spread a subtle but positive message about the equal rights movement.

However, in a surprise turn of events, last night Louis appeared to single out Independent journalist Jenn Selby, ranting in full view of his millions of followers: "@JennSelby The fact that you work for such a 'credible' paper and you would talk such rubbish is laughable. I am in fact straight.

"Google 'original apple logo' and you will see the one printed on my shirt that you reported on. Trying to look for a promotion ?"

He then added: "F*cking ridiculous I even have to tweet that sh*t ! Aaaanyway how is everyone !?"

Erm, not that great actually.

The most shocking thing about the outburst is that Selby's article doesn't actually imply anywhere at all that Louis is anything other than 'straight', it simply states that Louis is being a positive role model by so publically advocating for LGBTQ+ rights.

Thousands of fans were quick to accuse Louis of implying that you can't be straight and support equal rights, which you obviously definitely can be.

In fact, some fans were so outraged by the tweets that Louis lost well over 20,000 followers within minutes and many said that they would be canceling their preorder of the boys' new album, FOUR, as a result.

Jenn Selby herself was quick to hit back at Louis' tweets, saying on her own social media page: "Hi @Louis_Tomlinson thank you for your tweet. I'm sorry you found our article in any way insulting.

"At no point did we insinuate anything about your sexuality or mention your relationship, and nor would we.

"We were merely speculating as to whether you'd shown your support to a brave man facing some persecution for his decision to come out in public recently.

"I'd like to remind my readers that being called 'gay' should never be insulting and that standing up for #LGBT rights is an admirable thing to do.

"I'd also like to remind Directioners that calling a woman a 'b*tch' is never OK - and neither are death threats.

"And to thank those Rainbow Directioners who have tweeted it for their support. It is much appreciated."

The Rainbow Directioners are a group of fans who are committed to promoting equality and showcasing their support for equal rights within the fandom.

Many of Louis' followers who are struggling with their own sexuality were particularly disheartened by the popstar's rant, and a spokesperson for TakeMeHomeFromNarnia, an online platform commited to combating online homophobia and cyberbullying within the fandom, said in a statement last night:

"To suggest, as these tweets do, that LGBTQ+ support is not something positive, but something to distance oneself from, or that straight people wouldn’t support LBGTQ+ rights, gives the 17.9 million young people following Tomlinson’s Twitter account a clear message that being LGBTQ+ is not okay.

"That message has no place in a free society. If you know that an estimated 10% of the population is not straight, and that One Direction fans are largely in the 15-20 age segment, the age of coming out, you can see the potential for real damage."

But aside from the shock and outrage at these tweets, thousands of Directioners were simply confused about what sparked the 22-year-old to send out such messages, especially as he was given ample opportunity to debunk any rumours surrounding his sexuality during Sunday afternoon's livesteam.

During a particularly awkward segment of One Direction's live interview with Ben Winston, the boys were pressed to share the rumours that they had heard about themselves.

All five boys pulled their best 'we are thinking really hard' faces, before claiming that they couldn't think of anything there and then.

Which, considering this past week has seen speculation surrounding Harry Styles' sexuality sky-rocket, as well as the headlines surrounding Louis' rainbow T-Shirt, would have actually been a perfect opportunity for Louis to address the rumours.

In fact, some fans are so shocked by the singer's sudden change of heart when it comes to addressing these rumours that they believe that it might not be him behind the tweets at all, with some pointing out that the tweets were sent via iPhone and they reckon Lou uses a Samsung:

We have to say that we don't really know what's going on...

But we hope that we get some kind of explanation soon.

Stephanie Soteriou writes for Yahoo Celebrity UK.