Liam Payne Receives Backlash for 1D Members Slander

The last thing anyone expected in 2022 was for Liam Payne to slander his ex colleagues in Logan Paul’s podcast. And just like that, the hopes for a One Direction reunion disappeared.

During an interview with the Paul brother for his show Impaulsible, ex member of One Direction Liam Payne talked with an air of superiority about the band and the rest of the members. This was a few weeks after the scandal regarding him allegedly cheating on his fiancée, when a picture of him embracing another woman became viral on Twitter and Instagram. 

He talked about an alleged fight between him and an undisclosed member who pushed him against the wall. He mentioned that when that happened, he said ‘If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again.’ He had a generally smug and stuck up attitude throughout the interview that surprised many fans.

He also lied for apparently no reason. He said with full confidence that he outsold all of his ex members when they began their solo careers with his debut single Strip That Down. A quick look at the numbers, though, and it is clear that Harry Styles and Zayn Malik all had even more than a billion streams on their singles.

Liam Payne believes his debut solo single ‘Strip That Down’ outsold the other One Direction members:

“First song, billion streams. I think it outsold everybody within the band.” pic.twitter.com/Gr3c5UEczP

— Pop Base (@PopBase) June 1, 2022

He also assured Paul that One Direction was created solely because of him and a promise that Simon Cowell (the judge on The X Factor UK that created the iconic boy band) made to him to make him famous in two years time. “They took my face and the band was sort of created around me”.

The thing that upset the fans the most was the way he talked about Zayn Malik. He briefly criticized him for the feud he had with Jake Paul a few years ago, and how his ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid defended him on Twitter.

“She tweeted something about get yourself a respectful man or something. That one didn’t age very well,” said Payne, alluding to the allegations that Malik assaulted Hadid’s mother.

What didn’t sit well with many is how he talked about Zayn’s upbringing and his family. Being the only member who isn’t white in One Direction, who specifically received backlash for his race, Payne criticizing his family and the difficulties he suffered left a bitter taste. 

Of course, Twitter was ablaze after the interview came out in Logan Paul’s YouTube channel. Many fans stated their disappointment at his actions, especially since other members had avoided taking out the former band’s dirty laundry when they had the chance in talk shows or interviews. 

Payne has since apologized for the way he spoke about Malik on his Twitter account, but he didn’t mention any of the other things he stated in the episode.

Many also find this to be a very weird move on Payne’s part, since he was already deep in a cheating scandal and objectively not the most fruitful solo career. While he was dancing in a neon club covering old One Direction songs, Harry Styles was headlining at Coachella. Yet he assures that he is the one who is the most successful.