Twitter reacts to Zayn Malik skipping out on One Direction anniversary

Zayn Malik, a former member of One Direction, was noticeably absent from social media on Thursday. July 23. The day marked 10 years since the band's formation on the UK reality show, The X Factor. 

While his former bandmates all took to social media to thank fans, crew, and each other to mark the celebratory occasion, Zayn chose to stay out of the spotlight, in typical Zayn fashion. The Pillowtalk singer is known to lay low on social media, especially since his departure from the band in March 2015. Fans and followers were kept waiting for a tweet or post by Zayn, which did not come. However, the majority of his fans understood his absence, and some already called it! 

"Zayn never tweeted on his birthday all these years, on the day he left or when he released his first solo album and even his baby so what makes you think that he'll tweet about the anniversary of a band he left due to the toxicity?" wrote one fan. Another echoed similar sentiments, writing, "Can y‘all stop begging Zayn to tweet something about the anniversary? He doesn’t have to at all and he owes you nothing. Why would you want him to remember how miserable he got treated there and especially the racism and islamophobia?" 

Many others tweeted how they would respect the fact if he chooses not to tweet. "I love ot5 (One Direction) with my whole heart and would love for all 5 of them to tweet/say something tomorrow but if Zayn doesn't say or do anything for the anniversary then I completely respect that," wrote one user. Another said, "I'm just here to remind you that Zayn doesn't actually owe us anything. He left the band so please don't expect him to tweet about the anniversary - sure it would be cool if he did but still." 

Others, however, chose to take the more humorous approach to Zayn's absence, in typical fan twitter fashion. "Zayn is probably kissing Gigi's belly and feeding his horses without even caring about this," wrote one fan, referencing to his girlfriend, Gigi Hadid being pregnant with his first child. 

"Girls don’t want boyfriends, girls want Zayn Malik to tweet about the 10 year anniversary of One Direction," joked one user. 

Despite Zayn's silence, he was mentioned by his former bandmates and was also a part of a video compilation released on the One Direction official YouTube channel. The band also dedicated a highlight page to him on the new One Direction website released in honor of the anniversary. 

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below