Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik got in a Twitter feud on Wednesday that divided the One Direction fandom.

Louis Tomlinson And Zayn Malik Twitter Feud

It all began with a tweet from producer Naughty Boy, who shared a photo of himself with former One Directioner Malik with the caption “Replace this.”

Once Naughty Boy went negative, the gloves were off, and Tomlinson fired back, accusing the producer of taking advantage of Malik’s fame, writing, “How does it feel to be riding on the back of someone else’s career?”

Malik then got involved, tweeting Tomlinson directly. “@Louis_Tomlinson remember when you had a life and stopped making bitchy comments about mine?” he wrote.

#TomlinsonSlaysAgain

Needless to say, the One Direction fandom exploded with anger. And, while a few fans vowed to stay by Malik’s side, most were squarely on #TeamLouis. Malik reportedly lost a large number of Twitter followers following his comments, and fans got #TomlinsonSlaysAgain trending worldwide to show their support.

One Direction Fans Abandon Zayn Malik?

As fans continued to take sides – #TeamZayn vs. #TeamLouis – #ZaynUnfollowed also began trending. Fans may have been ready to support Malik for leaving One Direction to have a “normal” life, and they may have been willing to turn a blind eye when Malik released new music – launching a solo career he claimed he didn’t want – but it seems Malik’s mean-spirited tweet was one step too far for his die hard fans.

The intense backlash had Malik defending himself again on Twitter, trying to do damage control with fans. Wednesday night, he tweeted, “Don’t know why I’m being attacked for defending myself, people got it twisted! I love my fans?! Every single one of you x”

One Direction members Harry Styles, Nial Horan and Liam Payne have not commented on the Twitter conflict.