The boys are fighting!
During an interview on the Impaulsive podcast with controversial YouTuber Logan Paul, Liam Payne of One Direction revealed his true feelings about his time in the boy band – and held nothing back.
The 28-year-old detailed the moment he almost “came to blows” with another bandmate backstage and aired out his grievances against other ex-members.
“It was well-known within the band that I don’t like taking s–t,” started Payne, with a glare on his face. “There was one moment where there was an argument backstage and one member, in particular, threw me up a wall. So I said to him, ‘If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again.'”
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Although he didn’t disclose with whom the scuffle was, Payne went on to discuss Zayn Malik‘s past controversies including one headline-making Twitter feud with Logan’s brother, Jake Paul, in 2020.
Malik’s girlfriend at the time Gigi Hadid – with whom Malik shares a child – tweeted in Malik’s defense calling him “a respectful king” after branding Jake “irrelevant.”
“She tweeted something about get yourself a respectful man or something. That one didn’t age very well,” said Payne, referring to last year’s allegations against Malik in which he reportedly shoved Hadid’s mother during an altercation.
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Payne said there are “many reasons why I dislike Zayn,” but attempted to back-pedal on the comment by adding, “There are 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.” Watch Payne’s comments above.
When asked who in the band was the most “rowdy,” Payne said: “Louis [Tomlinson] was wild. He wanted to be wild. He’s got this spirit.” He also admitted that he and Tomlinson “hated each other” during their time in the band but added that the two are best of friends now.
He went on to discuss his solo career in comparison to the other ex-members, claiming his 2017 debut solo single, ‘Strip That Down,’ “outsold everybody within the band.” To which One Direction fans responded on Twitter, sharing screenshots proving songs such as Harry Styles‘ ‘Watermelon Sugar’ and Malik’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ had surpassed ‘Strip That Down’ with over a billion streams each.
Although the other former boy banders have restrained themselves from airing out the band’s dirty laundry (Harry Styles and Niall Horan both chose to ingest disgusting foods on The Late Late Show With James Corden to avoid questions intended to stir up drama), Payne took the opportunity to provide his half of the story. He details his 2015 feud with Justin Bieber (which he chalked up to having too many drinks on an Instagram live), hotel room shenanigans and admitted to “still not knowing who I am, I replicate different people on a daily basis.”
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https://twitter.com/heartstprry/status/1531786677458452481https://twitter.com/stiIIgoIden/status/1531772092210761728https://twitter.com/dwdharry/status/1531769792016920576https://twitter.com/_fankuniall_/status/1531790815147675648https://twitter.com/tpwk_pinkx/status/1531786449967890435https://twitter.com/gupta_harsha7/status/1531830843596886016
Zayn Malik seemingly non-addresses Liam Payne’s comments
As fans of the band react largely with outrage online to Payne’s comments, Malik himself appeared to use the attention they brought to his advantage.
Malik tweets to his account usually sporadically, but hours after Payne’s comments aired, he tweeted an announcement for his first merchandise collection.
“PAYNT BY ZAYN is here,” Malik tweeted earlier this morning. “Excited to share my first ever limited edition merchandise collection that I designed from my own paintings and artwork.”
No other bandmates have responded to the comments thus far.
https://twitter.com/zaynmalik/status/1532000591106703360
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