Liam Payne Breaks Silence After Controversial Zayn Malik Comments

Liam Payne has spoken out after facing serious backlash from fans this week when he said that he 'disliked' his former One Direction bandmate Zayn Malik.

Liam, 28, had been speaking on Logan Paul's podcast Impaulsive, when the subject of Zayn Malik's beef with Jake Paul was raised.

Watch the clip here:

Recalling how Zayn's ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid had also gotten swept up in the drama at the time, referring to Zayn as a 'respectful king', Liam joked 'that didn't age very well'.

He then went on to tell the podcast hosts: "Before we get too deep into this, there's many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there's many reasons why I'll always, always be on his side."

Liam also infuriated fans when he suggested that Zayn's upbringing might have had something to do with his behaviour.

He said: "My parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times and they don’t even mind me saying that. And Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense."

After facing an enormous wave of backlash over the controversial comments, Liam finally took to social media on Thursday to set the record straight.

He wrote: "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."

He continued: "I was saying that there will always be things we disagree on but that I will always, always be on his side. That’s family. Zayn is my brother and I will stand by him forever."

Elsewhere in the bombshell podcast, Liam revealed that he and the other boys often came close to blows during their One Direction days.

Offering an example, he shared: "There was one moment where there was an argument backstage and one member in particular threw me up a wall. So I said to him, ‘If you don’t remove those hands, there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again'."

He also pointed out that he and Louis Tomlinson 'hated each other' during the early days of the boyband, stating: "He wanted to be wild, that's his spirit. He's my best mate now but in the band, we hated each other - like, to come to blows hate each other."

Tell us how you really feel, Liam!