Louis Tomlinson has said that he will “forever despise” Logan Paul over his divisive interview with Liam Payne.
- READ MORE: Liam Payne 1993-2024: One Direction star who helped spark a pop phenomenon
Payne appeared on YouTuber Paul’s Impaulsive series in June 2022 and made headlines for a slew of controversial comments about his time in One Direction, including claiming that one of his bandmates had thrown him “up a wall” during an argument.
He also said that there were “many reasons why I dislike Zayn [Malik]”, and that Simon Cowell formed the group around him as the lead member. His comments were met with criticism, with Payne accused of being “arrogant”.
A year after appearing on the podcast, Payne apologised for his words, saying it was “hard for me to watch back” and that he hadn’t realised how much “impact” his words would have. He also revealed that he had spent 100 days in rehab after the interview.
Payne passed away in October 2024 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Following his death, the interview recirculated, with fans looking at his words in a new light, considering his struggles with his mental health.
Now, his former bandmate Tomlinson has addressed the podcast. Speaking in a new interview with the Independent, he said: “I fucking forever despise [Logan Paul], horrible, horrible little fucker.”
He added, “I think that’s also the problem with some of this new ‘media’… I would like to think most journalists,” before correcting himself and saying, “some journalists have a duty of care.”
Tomlinson went on to clarify Payne’s claim that he was the lead member of the group, saying it was true. “It was, definitely,” he says. “It was definitely a role that was assigned to him. That is the truth.”
Addressing the podcast in 2023, Payne said that his words had come from “self-protection”, but that “the rest of the boys really stuck by me when I needed them most, they kinda came to the rescue”.
“Even Zayn, as well,” he added, “which is why I did send him a little thank you online. It came across really big-headed didn’t it?”
He added at the time: “I think, for me, a lot of what I said just came from the wrong place. I was so angry at what was going on around me. Instead of taking a look inwards, I decided to look outwards at everybody else.
“I just took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really, and my own frustrations with my own career and where I landed – I took shots at everybody else and that was wrong so I just wanna apologise for that in the first instance.”
Payne’s former bandmates – Tomlinson, Malik, Harry Styles and Niall Horan – all paid tribute to Payne in a statement following his death, while each band member also took to their social media accounts to pay their respects.
Tomlinson has recently addressed Payne’s death and said it was “impossibly difficult for him to deal with”.
Elsewhere, Tomlinson and Malik recently announced that they are set to reunite for a new Netflix documentary series.
The former also recently announced his third studio album ‘How Did I Get Here?’, which will be released on January 23 and you can pre-order here along with a 2026 arena tour which will see him play around the UK and Europe next year. You can see all the dates here, while tickets go on general sale on Friday (October 10) here.
