It appears that cancel culture may have found its next victim, pop star and former One Direction band member, Liam Payne.
The 28-year-old appeared on Logan Paul’s podcast ImPaulsive, on May 31, and aired the band’s dirty laundry, leaving many fans upset and shocked.
False Claims Made
During the interview, he falsely claimed that he “outsold” the rest of his former band members and was the most successful solo artist.
A quick Google search leads you to find out that this isn’t true. He claimed his 2017 single Strip that Down sold ‘a billion records’. It sold 11.5 million copies, so just short of his estimate.
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Meanwhile, Harry Styles is selling out Wembley Stadium and Madison Square Garden, and both he and Zayn Malik have had a number one in the Billboard Top 100.
Payne hasn’t come close to this, so it’s confused fans as to why he’s painting himself as the most successful 1D member.
He added that Simon Cowell allegedly built the band around him: ‘So he kind of started with my face and worked around the rest… I was the honorary member of One Direction and he told me that story himself at his house.’
Comments about bandmates
That’s not all though, he also made some comments about his former band members that didn’t go down well.
The singer claimed that he and Louis hated each other while in the band but now they’re friends. He hinted that it was Louis that threw him against a wall and he told him: ‘If you don’t remove those hands, there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again.’
When talking about Zayn Malik, Liam said: ‘Gigi tweeted something about get yourself a respectful man or something. That one didn’t age very well.’
He aired out Zayn’s private family information that he’s never talked about, saying: ‘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 — with his growth and whatever else… My parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times. Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense.’
Fans are mad because this isn’t Liam’s personal information to tell. The whole interview came across as sour and out of touch, leaving him in a lot of people’s bad books and Zayn’s cousin, Sasha Malik, shared her thoughts.
After the angry backlash, Liam took to Twitter and shared a response that wasn’t quite an apology but was more so him trying to get the fans back on his side.