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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Tina Campbell

Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan unfollow Simon Cowell after comments about One Direction

Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan don’t appear to have been impressed by Simon Cowell’s recent remarks about One Direction as neither are now following him on social media.

The That’s What Makes You Beautiful hitmakers have unfollowed him on Instagram and are also not following Cowell on their Twitter pages. 

One Direction were originally formed in 2010 on Cowell’s show The X Factor where he mentored them.

While they only finished in third place on the ITV talent show, Cowell signed them to his label Syco Records and they then went on to sell more than 70 million records across the globe.

Four years after they originally shot to fame, member Zayn Malik announced that he was quitting the group after struggling in the spotlight.

One Direction were originally put together on ITV talent show The X Factor back in 2010 (Getty Images)

Remaining members Harry Styles, Louis, Payne and Horan announced that they would be taking an indefinite hiatus following their final tour a year later.

While Cowell, Payne and Horan had appeared on good terms over the year, this now no longer seems the case following Cowell’s appearance on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of A CEO podcast earlier this week.

During the chat, Cowell admitted that he "regretted” not keeping the One Direction name.

He confirmed that although One Direction are on a hiatus, the members continue to own the name, meaning he is unable to profit from them.

"That's the problem, could have made an animation or whatever but when you give an artist the name, it's not yours and that's my only regret," he told the Dragon’s Den star.

Cowell then went on to offer to buy the name from the lads, saying: "So if you're listening, I'll buy it back from you. But that's the only thing I do regret. If one of the band members, for whatever reason say they don't want to tour, it can stop the others touring, so if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn't be a problem."

The dad-of-one recently announced he is looking to put together a “new one direction” and has launched a global talent search.

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