The Crazy Rumor About Barack Obama And A One Direction Band Member

It's been a long time since former president Barack Obama left the White House, but there's still one rumor he just can't seem to shake. Similarly, it's been just as long since best-selling boy band One Direction split up — yet breakout star Harry Styles still has to deal with a wild piece of gossip, as well. What's the connection between Obama and Styles, you ask? As it turns out, they're linked by the same grapevine. Rumor has it, these two — the president and the pop star — had a beautiful, tragic love affair. (Or, at least that's what a certain corner of the internet would like you to believe.)

Tinged with irony and coated by a thick layer of satire, this so-called "Hobama" rumor has been circulating since 2014 at the earliest. It was born out of an already ridiculous National Examiner tabloid headline that was Photoshopped to be even more so. The original front page claimed, "Obama hid gay lifestyle to be president," and insisted, "He had sex with this man," with an arrow pointing to a man that definitely wasn't an international pop star (via X, formerly Twitter). Some internet trickster — whether they be a member of the One Direction fandom or the Political RPF (Real Person Fiction) community — Photoshopped the "National Examiner" to put Styles beside the arrow instead.

A decade on, Barack Obama-Harry Styles edits continue to circulate on TikTok and X. Same for Hobama fan fiction, which still pops up across Wattpad, AO3, and Tumblr alike. It's obviously untrue, but it's one of the most persistent (and consistently funny) rumors either one of its subjects has ever been linked to. The 44th president of the United States has never personally responded to the rumor, nor has Obama remarked on his other rumored affairs. But the same can't be said of Styles. He spoke on it over a decade ago, back in December 2014: "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," he told Yahoo! UK (via E! News). Naturally, this only fueled the fire because it's not an outright denial. (Just don't expect Obama to be as candid as some of Styles' exes.)

One search of "Hobama" on your social media platform of choice, and you're likely to encounter a cavalcade of lore. TikTok in particular has done a lot of the hard work in keeping the Obama-Styles ship afloat, with new fan vids cropping up on the daily. (Some are decidedly more NSFW than others, so be warned.) It's difficult to imagine another patently fictional pairing that's stood the test of time like Hobama's has ... except maybe those Harry Styles-Louis Tomlinson relationship rumors. If the fandoms' obsession with these ships isn't true love, then what is?