The noise surrounding the death of Liam Payne gets louder with each passing day, and some of it is not helpful. Media personalities Piers Morgan and Howie Mandel are on the receiving end of backlash on social media after they shared some tasteless opinions about the former One Direction singer’s tragic demise.
Speaking on his YouTube program via the Mirror, Morgan and Mandel, along with Payne’s friend and X Factor alum Katie Waissel, radio personality James Barr, and broadcaster Esther Krakue, talked about whether talent shows are responsible for taking care of the people who participate in them. But things devolved into chaos when Waissel mentioned the lack of support she received after her time on the show in 2010, with Barr adding, “Yet these shows would describe these people as their family.”
“Did she need help then?!” Mandel yelled. Esther then shared the most problematic opinion of the entire episode, saying, “When these people are becoming famous and they’re getting the money that they want, but when you have the dark side of fame, that apparently becomes everyone else’s fault.” Social media platform X was immediately filled with comments from Payne fans who described the entire narrative as incredibly insensitive.
“Do better… you should know better than to blame the victim,” one person wrote. “Piers Morgan doesn’t make any sense,” said another. “Liam’s death was PREVENTABLE. If someone helped when he was in the hotel lobby, he may still be here today. Artists are 2X more likely to have substance issues from stress, and we NEED mandated mental health checks to protect them,” a third concerned fan added.
Payne, who was just 31 years old, died on Oct. 16, after falling from the balcony of his third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The incident resulted in several internal and external traumas to his body, from which he was unable to be saved. Toxicology reports later revealed that the drugs used to make up pink cocaine, such as MDMA, ketamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepine, and crack, were found in the singer’s system at the time of his death.
Death is weird. Once someone is gone, everyone has an opinion about them, how they lived, what they did, what they should have done differently, the list goes on. It’s even worse for people in the public eye whose lives are dissected in the pages of gossip sites under the guise of informative entertainment long before a proper funeral is even held. (The irony of this being written on a site that likely falls into that category is not lost on me).
Before his fall, Payne had reportedly trashed his room and behaved erratically after receiving an upsetting email. But instead of helping or offering a kind word, bystanders took the opportunity to take videos and photos of Liam without his consent, which were later shared on social media or sold to media outlets. The singer’s troubled personal life has also become fodder for conspiracy theorists who have also been sharing problematic opinions about things that do not and have never, concerned them.
