1D's Harry Styles sparked a racism row after posing in a Native American headdress.

Surprisingly his most vocal critics were his own fans, a popular Twitter account, @1DUpdates, which has almost 800,000 followers.

"Cultural appropriation is not nice, regardless of context or intent. let's leave it at that," the account, run by @sharon__scottm @tiffanyytao, @kristyleaa and @sydneyanne_x, remarked after the black and white image was published.

After being deluged with tweets from furious Directioners accusing the account of sparking a racism row, the debate continued.

Defending their stance, the girls wrote: "Don't think harry is a bad person. i think there's underlying inequality all around the world in current times. i know that i even perpetuate it myself. that's why it's even more important to recognize our mistakes and to act on them."

After one fan suggested perhaps Harry was simply trying on the headdress, with no underlying motive, the account simply replied: "I don't think he was trying to be hurtful or offensive. I'm just trying to point out the bigger issue, because people are trying to downplay it to protect him. I love harry and i'm sure he's not 'racist' but we shouldn't turn a blind eye."

On Friday the account, which is followed by many UK 1D fans was tweeting messages of support to Harry in an attempt to downplay the furore.