Liam Payne has come under heavy fire after he gave an interview about his former One Direction bandmates.
The singer, 28, appeared on the Impaulsive podcast with controversial YouTuber Logan Paul on Wednesday, where he made a number of comments that did not go down well with fans.
He and the host discussed former bandmate Zayn Malik‘s headline-making online feud with Logan’s brother Jake Paul in 2020, which ended with Zayn’s then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid slamming Jake as ‘irrelevant’ and defending her beau as ‘a respectful king’.
Stirring up trouble: Liam Payne has come under heavy fire after he gave an interview about his former One Direction bandmates
Liam gave his thoughts on the drama, saying: ‘She tweeted something about get yourself a respectful man or something. That one didn’t age very well.’
The comment has been interpreted by fans as a reference to the allegation that Gigi’s mother Yolanda Hadid made last year, that Zayn had shoved her into a dresser and called her a ‘f***ing Dutch slut’.
Liam continued to talk about Zayn, saying there were ‘many reasons why I dislike Zayn’ but that he will ‘always be on his side’ because of Zayn’s alleged tough upbringing.
Uh oh! The singer, 28, appeared on the Impaulsive podcast with controversial YouTuber Logan Paul on Wednesday, where he made a number of comments that did not go down well with fans (pictured with One Direction in 2012)
He said: ‘There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side.
‘If I had had to go through what he went through, through his growth and whatever else. You know are your parents very supportive?
‘My parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times and they don’t even mind me saying that. And Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense.’
He continued: ‘You can always look at the man for where he is and say, “Oh, yeah, whatever that guy’s a d*ck.” Right? But at the end of the day, once you understand what he’s been through to get to that point, and also whether or not he even wanted to be there…
Bringing it all back up: He and the host discussed former bandmate Zayn Malik’s headline-making online feud with Logan’s brother Jake Paul in 2020, which ended with Zayn’s then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid (pictured) slamming Jake as ‘irrelevant’ and defending her beau as ‘a respectful king’
Accusation: The comment has been interpreted by fans as a reference to the allegation that Gigi’s mother Yolanda Hadid (pictured) made last year, that Zayn had shoved her into a dresser and called her a ‘f***ing Dutch slut’
‘I’m so misunderstood by myself more than anyone, like I don’t know what I’m doing or why I’m here. It’s like, I can’t sit here and d*ck on him because of whatever.’
Fans were unimpressed by Liam’s words and took to social media to come to the defence of Zayn, leading to Liam’s name trending on Twitter.
They called Liam out for reinforcing negative stereotypes, and told him to examine his own relationships, after it was reported that he cheated on his ex-fiancé Maya Henry.
Both sides: Liam continued to talk about Zayn, saying there were ‘many reasons why I dislike Zayn’ but that he will ‘always be on his side’ because of Zayn’s alleged tough upbringing
One person wrote: ‘liam payne painting zayn out as this violent man with a bad upbringing is only reinforcing stereotypes and is once again bashing poc and calling us “violent.” no wonder your racist a** didn’t speak when he was getting islamophobic comments. i’m sure you were one of them.’
Another echoed: ‘As a white man, Liam Payne should have not spoken a word about parental upbringing of Zayn Malik, a POC man. As a woman of color, hearing him talk shit about brown people’s parental upbringing disgusts me. How about you stop being an absent father and stop cheating on your fiancé’.
A third argued: ‘bringing up the fact that other people’s parents weren’t as supportive as urs is not okay. the only way liam payne gets talked about is when he talks about the other 1D members. get a life it’s honestly embarrassing’.
Not happy: Fans were unimpressed by Liam’s words and took to social media to come to the defence of Zayn, leading to Liam’s name trending on Twitter
Liam also faced criticism for claiming to have outsold his One Direction bandmates with his debut solo single Strip That Down.
He said: ‘We did the first song, billion streams. I think it outsold everybody within the band – and I was the last to go.’
However, many fans pointed out that the track is currently sitting at only 800,000 streams and argued that Zayn’s Pillowtalk and Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times had been more successful.
Blasted: Liam also faced criticism for claiming to have outsold his One Direction bandmates with his debut solo single Strip That Down
One tweeted: ‘”i’m the most successful out of the band” the way liam payne is dead serious while saying that literally shows how he’s a joke’
A second chimed in: ‘“i outsold all the boys” -liam payne on logan paul’s podcast as harry styles sold out 15 shows at msg, wembley stadium for 2 nights, headlined coachella two weekends, and broke chart records all while having class and respect for his ex band mates’.
Another claimed: ‘never seen a bigger flop in my life than liam payne. you went from being in what was the biggest group on the planet to sitting in a logan paul podcast talking about former members of your group’.
‘I didn’t think I’d live to see the day where liam payne is the most problematic member of one direction, my 12 year old self would’ve never believed it lol,’ agreed a fourth.
Controversy: Many fans pointed out that the track is currently sitting at only 800,000 streams and argued that Zayn’s Pillowtalk and Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times had been more successful
