Justin Hawkins has rejected calls to remove a video in which he was critical of Liam Payne’s behaviour, over a year before the former One Direction star’s death in October 2024.
The Darkness frontman has a popular YouTube channel, Justin Hawkins Rides Again, in which he discusses a range of topics while also reflecting on his career.
In the original video, posted in March 2023, Hawkins branded Payne “arrogant” and a “f***ing muppet” for a controverisial interview on Logan Paul’s podcast, in which the singer made a number of widely criticised comments about his former bandmates.
During Hawkins’ video, the “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” singer compared Payne to The Office character David Brent and suggested he had a lack of self-awareness as he made a number of self-congratulatory remarks.
Hawkins has since shared a new clip in which he reviews comments claiming he has “blood on his hands” – along with others that defended him – and said he has no intention of removing the original post.
“I didn’t see that Liam situation coming, I didn’t pay enough attention to his career,” Hawkins said. “I just thought it was definitely somebody who wasn’t coping with fame and trying to big themselves up into something that was a little bit inauthentic.
“It really was just like, watching some videos where he was obviously behaving like a bellend, it’s as simple as that,” he continued.
He said it would not make sense to take the video down and pretend “that I hadn’t observed those things… It’s really sad, what happened to him, but at the end of the day it’s not going to change my view on those specific behaviours”.
“Everybody’s complex,” he added. “There’s layers to this, and laughing at some stuff that’s laughable is what I do, and what I’ll always do.”
The Independent has contacted Hawkins’ representative for comment.
Payne, who died aged 31 after falling from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room, apologised for the Paul interview following a backlash and said much of what he’d said had come “from the wrong place”.
“I was so angry at what was going on around me and instead of taking a look inwards I decided to look outwards at everybody else, and I just think, yeah, I took it out on everybody else, which is just wrong, really,” he said.
His funeral took place last month and was attended by his family and close friends, along with his former One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan.
