〉〉〉〉 _To the top

Oh, I definitely think that Ziam rumors and Zayn/Liam gay rumors are not confined to fandom chatter.  When gay rumors persist long enough without dying then you start getting journalists, publicists, etc. on your trail, and even so the gossip can spread independently of the fandom.

Really, stuff like this should tell you all that you need to know.  This is not even subtle:

Bottom line: people have definitely heard and the linkages and shade should tell you all that you ever wanted to know.

IMO the major turning signs of a turning point for Zayn and Liam were Popbitch’s Ziam blinds and Liam’s kiss confession in We Love Pop.

Popbitch started running shady non-blind blinds about Ziam, either practically handing you the answer…

…or just implying outright that they are queer, in a secret relationships, and that even that Perrie was Zayn’s beard (!!!):

Note that they have also run shady blinds about the supporting cast in the Ziam story like Simon and Cheryl [X X X X], whom they seem to not like, including spilling tea about Cheryl’s rumored lavender marriages.

The thing about Popbitch is that unlike other blind gossip sites like CDaN and Blind Gossip, they actually go to lengths verify their blind items (they will not publish a blind unless they are at least 80% confident in it) and pride themselves on the accuracy of their blinds.  They also have a reputation—which they are also quite proud of—for being correct most of the time.  Since they seem quite interested in Zayn and Liam, and also are not friendly towards people surrounding them like Simon Cowell and Cheryl…you connect the dots.  At the very least, it is interesting.

The other thing is Liam’s confession of the Ziam Kiss in We Love Pop, which matches Zayn’s infamous account from 2011 in Bravo, and remains a baffling and mysterious event in 1D history:

See here for a discussion.  But basically, it was not only totally unexpected and strangely managed to get through, but it also received shockingly wide media attention and even spread rumors that Zayn and Liam (mostly Liam) might be gay or bisexual—opening the gay rumor floodgates from the fandom to the GP.

No really, look it up, there are so many of these.  Many questions remain and continue to mystify: why would Liam say something like that, when it would have normally been forbidden?  Why was it actually allowed to go to print?  Why did Simon Jones of HJPR advertise that issue of We Love Pop?  Why was the media’s coverage of it allowed to proliferate so widely?  Why was there no gay denial or no homo promo to counter it?  Whatever the answers, We Love Pop marked a major shift in Ziam’s, especially Liam’s, public image.