Zayn Malik is not looking to have any kind of “showdown” with Harry Styles, despite a report coming from an outlet routinely caught making up stories. Gossip Cop can reveal what’s really going on.
In yet another one of its supposed “exclusives,” HollywoodLife announces, “Zayn Malik & Harry Styles Showdown: What Zayn’s Ready to Tell Harry Straight Up.” The discredited site writes in the accompanying story, “Now that the dust has settled after One Direction’s split, Zayn Malik wants to keep moving forward with his life. So then why does he want to reach out to former bandmate Harry Styles?”
Promising to have the “full scoop,” the webloid goes on, “It wasn’t too long ago that we heard Zayn Malik, 23, celebrating his exit from One Direction. However, recently, the ‘Like I Would’ crooner has found himself facing a bit of anxiety. Could hashing things out with Harry Styles, 22, be the cure to all of his woes?”
A so-called “source” is then quoted as saying, “Zayn wants to clear the air with the guys once and for all. He would definitely be open to having a conversation with them. Gigi [Hadid] has also been encouraging Zayn to do so. She thinks it would help alleviate some of his ongoing anxiety. Harry would most likely be the one he’d like to hash things out with, and set the record straight once and for all that his agenda has never been about disrespecting him or any of the guys.”
First off, Malik’s anxiety, as he has made clear, is about performing. It has nothing to do with his relationship with Styles or any lingering issues with his former band mates. HollywoodLies should be ashamed of using a mental health matter to sensationally score web traffic.
Second, Gossip Cop has already debunked the publication’s untrue story about Hadid pushing Malik to reunite with One Direction. Third, this is all a saga that the outlet itself has manufactured. Gossip Cop can explain exactly how it went down.
Earlier this week, Dazed released a cover story in which Malik explained why he left One Direction. Not content to simply report the singer’s comments, HollywoodLife saw fit to create several follow-up stories. The first “exclusive” was headlined, “Harry Styles ‘So Over’ Zayn Malik Dissing One Direction: He’s ‘Desperate.'”
That was followed by “Harry Styles Dismisses Zayn Malik’s 1D Comments? He ‘Should Watch His Words.'” Next was “Zayn Malik Has ‘Nothing But Love’ For Harry Styles Despite One Direction Diss.” And now we have this new piece.
This is what HollywoodLies does. It takes a topic, and then creates multiple angles afterward to keep the story going, all in hopes of maximizing said topic’s traffic potential. And accuracy doesn’t matter. Here the webloid, which is known to have disreputable and made-up sources, wants readers to believe it is the only outlet with these “exclusive” details about Styles and Malik.
And this is after just a few weeks ago when Malik’s rep came to Gossip Cop and outright told us that the site had spread a “false” story about the British star. And don’t get us started on all the Styles-focused pieces from the bad blog that Gossip Cop has had to correct. All of this is to say: HollywoodLife has never had sources in the know when it comes to Styles and Malik (and most stars, frankly).
That hasn’t changed all of a sudden. And while the former colleagues may indeed reconnect at some point down the line, Malik isn’t considering reaching out to Styles for a “showdown” of some sort. Right now, each is focused on their individual careers. And HollywoodLife is focused on telling lies.