Piers Morgan has been criticised after discussing the tragic death of Liam Payne.
The ex-One Direction star met a heartbreaking end at 31, falling from his hotel room balcony on the third floor in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last week.
He suffered multiple injuries leading to an “internal and external haemorrhage”.
On his YouTube show, Piers was joined by Howie Mandel, Liam’s friend and former X Factor colleague Katie Waissel, radio personality James Barr, and broadcaster Esther Krakue to talk over the sorrowful event.
Piers mentioned that Liam had various substances in his system, “including cocaine, crack and benzodiazepine,” at his time of passing. Reports suggest these were part of “pink cocaine”, which contains drugs like MDMA, ketamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepine, and crack, reports the Mirror.
In the latest episode of Uncensored, Howie, the ex-judge of America’s Got Talent, remarked that on talent shows like Got Talent and X Factor: “if we feel that somebody is going south a little bit, there is somebody to watch over them and talk to them.”
He continued: “This is not a talent thing. In fact, Liam if he came to a talent thing, his outcome was great. The people who are rejected have the harder time.”
He elaborated on Liam’s candid discussions about his past struggles with substances, noting that he had since become sober. Piers remarked: “Howie, let me bring in Katie – what I will say there about Liam, who I didn’t know very well. I know some members of the band One Direction much better – Niall is a good friend of mine and so on. “Clearly Niall and Harry Styles and Louis, they’ve all built incredibly successful solo careers, I’ve covered many boybands over the years, some of them end up doing better than others when they go solo.”
Katie, now pursuing legal studies to qualify as a solicitor, has been vocal about the insufficient support she and her fellow contestants received from The X Factor in 2010.
During the discussion on the show’s responsibility towards its talent, Howie interjected loudly: “Nothing, nothing, nothing.”
Interrupting, James Barr added: “Yet these shows would describe these people as their family.”
In a moment of high tension, Howie’s raised voice dominated as he talked over Katie: “Did she need help then?!” Esther then spoke up: “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.”
Some respondents on social media criticised him for seemingly placing blame on Liam.
“Do better… You should know better than to blame the victim,” one irate X, formerly known as a Twitter user, stated. Another chimed in: “Piers Morgan doesn’t make any sense.”
A third commented: “Yes a dark side of fame, but no not suddenly it is everyone’s fault. Fans/public have known for a while how terrible the industry is. We have spoken out many times before. Liam is just the current artist to have something tragic happen. So many have passed under suspicious causes.”
“The fact Piers and Howie were even considered ‘talent’ judges at one point in time without having an ounce of it themselves is bizarre, Leave Liam rest in peace, don’t throw stones while living in a glass house,” another raged.
A fifth added: “People have been screaming about the lack of care for minors and adults in this industry w/ little care or concern for their wellbeing. He took responsibility for his addictions but no one has taken responsibility for how the lack of care.”
Waissel has since hit back, stating: “It was abhorrent from start to finish.”
Since the news of Liam’s death, over 60,000 people have signed an online petition, urging the government to enact legislation to protect musicians and their mental health, which fans have insisted be named “Liam’s law”.
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