Former One Direction star Harry Styles was reportedly groped by a fan at concert in Los Angeles.

Words: Stella Akinwumi | Subbing: Isabella Dawe

The singer was performing alongside the likes of Lorde, Kesha and Sam Smith, for the cancer benefit ‘We Can Survive’ at the infamous Hollywood Bowl on Saturday night. In an effort to engage with the crowd Harry shouted “Come on!”, when an excited fan appeared to be aiming for his crotch area. Footage shows Styles moving the person’s hands away and taking a step back.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbTNglbzS7I&w=560&h=315]

An insider told Yahoo Celebrity UK, “You could tell it freaked him out, although he continued performing, he avoided that particular area that the fan was standing in.”

The alleged attack has sparked a double standard debate on social media. A comment on ‘The Daily Mail’ read “If a man had inappropriately grabbed a female artist, it would be front page news and deemed as sexual assault.”

The hashtag #RespectHarry was trending on Twitter later than evening. Fans were left feeling “embarrassed” and “disgusted” and labelled the incident as “sexual assault” and said that the star deserves more respect.Whilst fans have expressed their outrage on social media, others have defended the singer. One fan wrote, “When your favorite artist is close to you, this does not justify you touching him in this way. #RespectHarry.

Harry spreads love,respect and kindness,but he's getting harassed on his own shows. That's disgusting.#RespectHarry

— k (@shessgoldenn) October 22, 2017

I am absolutely disgusted by what happened. I hope people know that REAL fans would never doing anything like that. #RespectHarry

— adrienne (@scottsthot_) October 22, 2017

This incident comes at a time when the topic of sexual assault has been a recurring theme in the news, more specifically the allegations of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. No comment has been made from the 23-year-old so far.