It Was One Crazy Week on Liam Payne's Twitter

A shirtless Harry Styles may be relaxing and enjoying his time by the pool, but fellow bandmate Liam Payne is in a lot of hot water right now, and we're not talking about the Jacuzzi. Liam ran into trouble over the weekend when he tweeted at Duck Dynasty castmember Willie Robertson. If you remember, the show was hit by controversy back in December, when patriarch Phil Robertson made a series of homophobic comments. After Liam's tweet, Twitter and the rest of the Internet was immediately up in arms, claiming that Liam was supporting Phil's antigay sentiments. Here's the tweet in question:

OK, so it looks pretty bad, right? It's worth mentioning, though, that Liam Payne has never expressed any homophobic tendencies himself. Isn't it possible Liam tweeted his enthusiasm about a show he liked, without implying that he, too, was homophobic? After all, there are quite a few companies that don't support gay rights, and we don't say all their shoppers are homophobes. It's also worth remembering that Liam's front and center in a spotlight with the rest of the One Direction boys right now. As a 20-year-old just trying to find his way, he is in a constant battle for his privacy, as mentioned in tweets from last week.

Not to mention back in October, a wild fan stole Liam's boxers from his hotel balcony in Australia. Other tweets show Liam's not really one to think about the greater implications of his actions, or even his tweets, in the moment.

All this could mean that Liam was just expressing his support for a show he enjoys, without all the greater implications of homophobia. Do we even know for sure that the Duck Dynasty scandal was on Liam's radar? Regardless of what he actually meant, here's how he reacted to the backlash:

His rant probably wasn't the most appropriate reaction. Then again, it's hard to say we wouldn't be just as frustrated in Liam's shoes.