In a Pivot, Harry Styles Fans Don’t Want Him to Spit on Them

People love to talk a big game about wanting their celebrity crushes to spit on them, but when the moment arises amid a global pandemic suddenly it’s “a health concern” and “bioterrorism.” At least that’s what a few Harry Styles fans thought after seeing the singer perform his famous “whale” trick over the weekend as he kicked off his latest tour.

The whale is exactly what it sounds like; Styles takes a sip of water, leans his head back, and sprays out both the water and whatever else is in his mouth (COVID?) in all directions, much like an orca does when it emerges from the ocean to get some air, hence the name.

Styles has been spewing his respiratory droplets into the air at concerts since his time in One Direction, but those days might be coming to an end. After doing the whale in Las Vegas over the weekend, fans tweeted at the star that his fun little trick might actually be deadly.

I am not an epidemiologist, but it seems to me that Styles spitting water mostly on himself is less risky than, say, standing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of people in an enclosed arena.

Popbuzz, the only outlet to write about this absolute scandal, notes that Styles has yet to respond to the “backlash,” which seems to be a few tweets that didn’t manage to get more than 20 likes (see above). I am praying that he doesn’t, because I have tickets to see him at Madison Square Garden that I bought two years ago and I want to see him do the whale. Plus, the water made a heart, isn’t that cute?