Liam Payne Under Fire For Allegedly Downplaying BTS And Others’ Success

He’s in hot water with not only ARMY but even his own fandom.

English singer-songwriter and former One Direction member, Liam Payne, is under fire after guesting on a recent podcast.

Liam Payne

On May 31, the former boy band member, 28-year-old Liam Payne, appeared on Episode 328 of controversial YouTuber Logan Paul‘s IMPAULSIVE podcast. Yet, Payne proved to be just as controversial himself.

Pop icon & former One Direction member, Liam Payne, joins the boys to reveal *exclusive* One Direction details (craziest guy, fighting over women, how it started, why it ended), ex-wife Cheryl, calling out Gigi Hadid & Zayn, fighting Justin Bieber & KSI, life as a father, fighting Quavo at a carnival & more…

— IMPAULSIVE episode description

IMPAULSIVE/YouTube

Throughout the episode, Liam Payne made one too many remarks that even his own fans deemed inappropriate and problematic. To start, he had criticized his own former bandmate, Zayn Malik.

There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn, and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side.

— Liam Payne

The sentiment drew netizens to claim that they understood more about why Zayn Malik chose to leave One Direction in the first place.

IMPAULSIVE/YouTube

Netizens found Payne’s remarks targeting Malik especially hypocritical considering recent events.

Besides, many pointed out that it was painfully ironic that someone would choose to drag someone else to a figure as historically problematic as Logan Paul.

Yet, most of all, what has upset many netizens (both Directioners and non) is that he, along with Paul, downplayed many other artists’ success.

| IMPAULSIVE/YouTube

During the episode, Liam Payne claimed that One Direction was created around him due to a promise made to him by Simon Cowell and that he also “outsold” all the other members with his 2017 Ed Sheeran-wrote track “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo. Yet, time and time again, the members (notably Harry Styles) have proved to be outstandingly successful on their own.

IMPAULSIVE/YouTube
IMPAULSIVE/YouTube

Similarly, near the start of the episode, other boy bands were downplayed when introducing Liam Payne as a former member of One Direction. Logan Paul claimed that One Direction was the “biggest boy band of all time,” and no other has “replicated” their success.

You had such as fast and global come up. So, you’re a part of One Direction, probably the biggest boy band of all time and has yet to be replicated…

— Logan Paul

IMPAULSIVE/YouTube

Although Paul did add that K-Pop generally was an exception, many felt it should not be an entirely different category of its own. A fact considering Korean groups such as BTS’s international success is just as influential and a phenomena as One Direction’s, a British boy band, success worldwide.

Like I don’t know if there’s like… besides the K-Pop.

— Logan Paul

Mind you, Logan Paul was one of the two who presented BTS with their first award for “Top Social Artist” at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, and his voice is even featured on their Love Yourself: Her album as a result. So, he should know better.

Liam Payne agreed with Paul, though, saying that K-Pop bands “kind of reignited,” while also only casually mentioning Australian pop-rock band 5 Seconds of Summer.

Yeah, I think some of the K-Pop bands have kind of reignited the thing. I mean, obviously, we have 5 Seconds of Summer as well. That did pretty well.

— Liam Payne

IMPAULSIVE/YouTube

Netizens were taken aback by the implications made by the men, particularly Liam Payne. ARMYs especially felt that BTS had been shaded and greatly overgeneralized.

| Twitter
| Twitter

Still, 5 Seconds of Summer was also explicitly mentioned, and likewise, their success was minimized considering that they are still an active and highly successful band.

| Twitter

The claim was even more satirical considering where BTS was at the time the comments were made about them. BTS was visiting The White House in Washington D.C, the U.S. capital, to celebrate Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. They spoke on the importance of Asian inclusion, diversity, and anti-Asian hate crimes, at Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre‘s press briefing and had a meeting with U.S. President, Joe Biden.

| Twitter

Another pointed out that Liam Payne emphasized how poorly he got along with the other bandmates throughout the episode, specifically Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, while calling everyone “rowdy.” Consequently, he would get in fights. Yet, BTS are famously known to get along so well and work through their disagreements with class.

Nevertheless, IMPAULSIVE is not the only time BTS has been brought up with Liam Payne.

In 2018, Liam Payne was featured on Ask Anything Chat with iHeartRadio and was asked about BTS. At the time, he was very positive about them and implied that there had once been a collaboration in the works.

Well, BTS looks like a really tough group to be in, like, I don’t think I’d make the cut for BTS because they just have, like a military thing of dancing, which is amazing. They can all perform solo great, they have so many different styles, and obviously, I don’t speak… Korean. But I think they’re really great.

I actually really wanted to do something with them earlier on, but someone kind of beat me to it, so I, I kind of backed out, you know, at the end. But go BTS! Good, really good stuff.

— Liam Payne

He’s even grooved to BTS’s “Dynamite” during an Instagram Live.

Nevertheless, he was under fire in 2019 after offering some “advice” to BTS during SiriusXM Hits 1’s The Morning Mash-Up. While he may have had good intentions, many interpreted it as negative and patronizing.

They’re gonna get really tired because they dance loads. We didn’t even dance and we were tired! They’re super good at dancing. There’s one kid who is really good at mic flipping as well.

— Liam Payne

Jimin

Even then, netizens were conflicted about his statements. Yet, Payne defended himself, claiming also to be a fan of BTS, particularly Jimin.

| Twitter

Liam has since addressed his remarks about Zayn but has yet to respond to his comments about BTS and other artists.

Watch Liam Payne’s guest appearance on Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast below:

Source: IMPAULSIVE and Mashable

Idols Done Dirty