Zara Larsson Isn’t Laughing at TikTok Homophobia

Zara Larsson wins the internet this week.

The Swedish pop singer has been busy dropping bops like “End of Time” and “Can’t Tame Her” this year, amassing a following of 1.7 million on TikTok where she shares her takes on funny videos. However, this was one joke she wasn’t laughing at.

It all started with a video from LGBTQ+ content creator Ryan Crouse… or @ryanthetwat as he’s known to his 1.5 million TikTok fans. Crouse, who’s lived in Japan the past year, told the story of how he snagged a $1 flight to Vietnam and Larsson replied with a “crazy” story of her own. Apparently, she won an all-expense paid trip to Disney World as a kid after clicking a questionable ad on goSupermodel. If you know, you know.

Sounds harmless enough… except Crouse duetted Zara’s response and that’s where the drama starts. 

“It’s actually super f****** crazy, Ms. Zara Larsson, but you want to know what’s crazier,” Crouse said. “I used to be a huge f****** Zara Larsson stan.”

That’s when he alleges that back in 2017 or 2018, he attended one of her concerts in D.C., where Larsson “let me up on stage and then as soon as I started singing with you, you pushed me off the stage and called me a flaming f****** f*g.”

Obviously… the video (which has received over 3.9 million views) was tasteless satire, and Larsson quickly replied to clear the air.

In her response, Larsson told Crouse that she “[loved] his content” and “[gets] that it’s a joke,” but she had some issues with the premise. “We need to make a study on what it is that makes … white gay men feel like making a woman look homophobic is the funniest joke ever,” she said. “Because I thought it was a little played out. It’s 2023, why are you still trying to, like, Millie Bobby Brown people?”

Oop, got him!

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Larsson alluded to the Stranger Things star’s meme treatment and told her followers, she understands “self-deprecating humor” but she doesn’t appreciate that “it’s always on the expense of the girlies.” And as an outspoken LGBTQ+ ally, the “Symphony” singer takes issue with people making jokes about her being homophobic, as it’s happened before on the platform and “[people] thought it was real, strangely enough.”

“It just hurts me because that’s so far from my character and what I would do,” she finished, before jokingly saying, “Ryan, I’m gonna sue you!” The clip has already received 3.4 million views as of this writing.

With the hilarious threat of litigation (and the wrath of stans in his comments), Crouse returned to TikTok to clear the air. “Having drama with Zara Larsson was not on my Bingo card for 2023,” he began, before clarifying he meant for the video to be satirical. The nuance was, obviously, lost in translation.

“I don’t know the girl, I never went to her concert, that never happened, I can clear that up right now,” Crouse explained, before admitting that Ms. Larsson made some d*** points.

“Y’all are like, ‘Oh my god, she ate you up with her reply,’ and she kind of did,” Crouse said. “I have to sit here and be like, ‘Yeah, I got ate up by Zara Larsson.’”

Let this be a lesson: accusing someone of homophobia isn’t the gag you think it is. And if you call for Zara Larsson, she will come for you!