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Stephen King Reveals His Favorite NSFW T-Shirt Slogan By John Waters—And It's A Classic

The horror author shared the 'Hairspray' director's wise words in a viral tweet.

Stephen King; John Waters
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images; Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Horror—and drama—writer Stephen King is obviously one of the greatest authors in American history. But he's also really good at writing tweets.

Every so often you'll be scrolling your timeline and there he is, apropos of nothing, posting a little something delightful. He's truly a great follow.

And Thursday was no exception. King took to the platform to share his favorite t-shirt, which bears a perfect—and perfectly profane—quote from legendary film director John Waters.

Like Waters' films, it's an instant classic.

See King's tweet below.

@StephenKing/Twitter

The tweet read:

"My favorite tee-shirt bears a quote from John Waters: 'If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't fu*k 'em.'"

Sage advice, indeed.

And leave it to Waters—the king of queer camp cinema—to make books the sexiest thing around.

Although if you're the type who likes to separate the literary from the carnal, you're in luck—Waters has since reneged on his iconic quote and given us a pass to fu*k the bookless, so long as they're hot.

In a 2015 profile with BuzzFeed, the site asked him about the quote, to which he replied:

"That’s not really true if they’re cute enough."
"I like the idea emotionally but if they’re cute enough — who’s looking at their books?"

That doesn't mean your paramour's book collection isn't still important though.

In a later interview 2022, Waters issued a further clarification.

“The other thing is, if they have books in the bathroom, don’t fu*k ’em."

Fans of King loved his tweet and Waters' sage advice.








King has referenced Waters a few times on Twitter, including sharing the quote about books back in December 2021.

And earlier that year, he tweeted about a goal he'd taken on to watch one movie from each calendar year.

His pick for 1988 was one of Waters' signature films, Hairspray, along with its 2007 musical version.

King's pick?

The Waters' original version.

It's hard to beat a legend.