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

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

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

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

he's about to get dragged by zayn's fans pic.twitter.com/sr7BGB9Wxw

— georgia (@copyofsatellite) May 31, 2022

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

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

liam talking shit about zayn as if he didnt cheat on his fiancé last week

— 🐰 (@diorzrry) May 31, 2022

liam payne and logan paul talking ab “zayn being a rude guy” as if one of them didn’t film d3ad ppl and the other literally JUST cheated on his fiancé

— sammy (@normalgirlimh) June 1, 2022

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.

zayn choosing to keep certain aspects of his life private and liam airing it out voluntarily to LOGAN PAUL is a prime example of how wicked this man truly is

— jay ³⁶⁹ | SATELLITE🫶🏽 (@COCONILLAX) May 31, 2022

if liam payne talking shit about zayn on a fucking logan paul podcast isn’t an indicator as to how irrelevant his career is then idk what is

— 💌 (@hsbbby) May 31, 2022

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

What im most upset about this liam shit pic.twitter.com/aWe0uH50JZ

— julia (@calumstan101) June 1, 2022

“i outsold all the boys” -liam payne on logan paul’s podcast as harry styles sold out 15 shows at msg, wembley stadium for 2 nights, headlined coachella two weekends, and broke chart records all while having class and respect for his ex band mates

— moxie misses harry | 17 (@plantdadrry) June 1, 2022

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.

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

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

separating korean people from being a competitor just because they make korean music is fucking crazy https://t.co/qvCYbKGr4J

— ☆ (@k00z3r) June 1, 2022

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

"Even if it's a group just like us, a lot of them don't get along."
– @BTS_twt Jeon Jungkookpic.twitter.com/dH3lT4Qucx

— ⟭⟬ 아.포.방.(울).포⁷ ⒿⒶⓃⒺ정 ⟬⟭ (@Njannahnawa) June 1, 2022

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

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

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

Guys – I wouldn’t normally comment on this stuff but when its your family it’s hard to let it slide.

They mentioned a specific incident involving Zayn which I responded to – but listening back maybe I didn’t articulate myself as well as I could have.

— Liam (@LiamPayne) June 2, 2022

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