British GQ threatened with stabbing and bombing by angry One Direction fans

Directioners, the fanatical fans of One Direction (1D), are obsessively dedicated. Seeing their favourite boys grace the cover of British GQ in five special editions has some of them rushing to collect each version whilst others have taken to the twittersphere to vent their anger and send abuse.  

Before the September issue of the men’s fashion magazine even went on sale, the GQ website crashed under the weight of Directioners’ comments about their choice of cover star and the quotes which accompanied them. Although there are some positive comments they are hidden under the barrage of violent threats.

Oliver Franklin, Online Feature Assistant at British GQ, tweeted: “Today I’ve been threatened with kidnapping, bombing, stabbing, and being raped with a cactus. Not your average day in the office. ‪#GQ1D”, the day after 1D were announced as featuring on the cover. The abuse British GQ staff have received, including threats of punching, stabbing, eye mutilation, burning, bleaching, bombing, hammering testicles and murder, stems mostly from the line “He’s up all night to get lucky” on the Harry Styles cover.

Outraged fans have lashed out at the magazine to defend Mr Styles’ and his notorious promiscuous behaviour, whilst also venting their anger at the lack of attention the trolls receive from the band. One fan tweets: “GQ NEEDS TO SHUT THE F**K UP BEFORE I BREAK MY GLASS NAIL FILE IN TWO AND STAB THEM IN THE EYES”. Whilst another, ironically named @banginngniall_ − banging Niall, really? – tweeted: “HARRYS COVER SAYS HE UP ALL NIGHT TO GET LUCKY. ‪@BritishGQ YOURE MAKING HIM SOUND LIKE A WHORE. HES NOT A F*****G WHORE YOU STUPID C***S.” A tweet that has 76 favourites and been retweeted 114 times. The actual interview in GQ, which touches on the number of Harry’s conquests, has the star revealing that he has “only ever had sex with two people…read from that as you will.” It seems Directioner trolls have done exactly that and GQ are suffering for it.

Hollie Bracciale

The September issue of British GQ is on sale now.