Weeks have passed by since this year's Oscars - and all its drama - took place but it has taken until now for Liam Payne to address a viral moment from the awards, only second to THAT altercation.
Back on March 28, as the fallout from the 94th Acadamy Awards was all about the incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock, the former One Direction star was asked for his quick take as he headed to an Oscars after-party.
Liam, 28, was chatting to the Good Morning Britain's North America correspondent Noel Phillips, who was live on the red carpet of Elton John's Oscars party for the ITV news programme.
He was asked about his thoughts on the incident which saw actor Smith walk up on stage and slap Rock after the comedian had made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, just minutes before Smith was named best actor at the star-studded ceremony. Smith has since been condemned for his actions and has been banned from the Oscars gala and other Academy events for 10 years.
"I'll be honest with you... Will Smith actually used to live behind my house," Liam started by saying. "I've had the pleasure of knowing his son and daughter very well and we did Men In Black III with him. "I believe whatever he felt that he did he had the right to do and I also felt there were three losers in one fight. He didn't know, being Chris Rock, He didn't do what he had to do, being Will Smith, and she did nothing, being Jada, and it's a very sad thing."
The pop star went on: "But there was a powerful moment for me to watch one of the world's best emoters, ever, speak from the heart. I'd rather take the beauty out the situation than take the pain. But I had to leave my chair, I'll be honest with you. It cut me really deep. I don't get deep about these things. I'm a big movie fan, I'll be honest with you and out of a horrible moment there was a little bit of beauty in what came on and I'm sure everyone's very apologetic about what happened.
"It shouldn't have happened. But ask yourself what would you do in that situation. I don't know how we'd all react. We're all very human, right?"
When he was introduced onto the programme as they abruptly cut to their conversation, Noel thanked him for his reaction before pressing further on his thoughts but all viewers could talk about was his accent and his brief moment on GMB ended up going viral as the Wolverhampton-born musician sounded like he was from America, Ireland, and the Netherlands at various points.
"This was in Oscars week – the ever-changing accent," Liam said in an Instagram Live on Monday night (April 18). "I’m good at accents, I pride myself on them! I just wish sometimes I could do my own," he giggled.
"What can I say about that really? It was quite funny. I had asked Good Morning Britain, the presenter, I said, 'Please don’t ask me too much because I’ve had a lot to drink and I’m under-ly educated about the Oscars [sic].' The very first question the man asked me was, 'What do you think about Will Smith?' Now can you imagine, imagine being put on the spot in that moment and knowing, 'I can’t say anything wrong because I’m gonna upset someone' and I just did the best I could.
"I actually read back what I said and I stand by what I said. But I’m just sorry it came out in so many accents!" Liam added: "I’m not even sure if it’s an accent I can do."
He went on to say that his accent changes when he’s around people from different areas. He referenced his X Factor audition, where he says he doesn's sound like he's from where he grew up and added that his accent also changes around his Doncaster-born former One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson.
"That day – I’ll tell you the truth – I was staying in a house with two German people, three people from Texas, one person from Liverpool and me. It sounded like one of those jokes people say where an Irishman and an Englishman walk into a pub," Liam said. Wrapping up his explanation, he added: "And that's what came out. What can I say? It was funny wasn't it. Don't have many drinks and address the country."
The clip of his reasoning was played on Tuesday morning's GMB (April 19) as Richard Arnold returned to the programme for the first time in weeks with the latest entertainment news.
After showing a brief part of Liam's video, the programme returned to the studio where Kate Garraway and Adil Ray couldn't help but laugh. "A lesson to us all," Richard then quipped.
Kate added: "Something we should all keep in mind," before commenting: "Boris, that's a tip for you this afternoon," referring to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson facing MPs in the House of Commons for the first time since his partygate fine.
