(Quotes from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/liam-payne-one-direction-interview-logan-paul-podcast-1361543/)
On May 31st, 2022, Logan Paul’s “IMPAULSIVE” podcast aired an episode featuring former One Direction member Liam Payne. The fallout immediately following was massive. In the podcast, Payne told Paul that a former band member threw him up against a wall. He then claimed to have responded: “If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again.” Among other comments about the band, Payne also told Paul that there were “many reasons why [he dislikes] Zayn [Malik]” (another former band member who left the band in March 2015).
This led to a massive outpouring of speculation as to who it was that threw Liam up against a wall. Was it Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, or Zayn Malik? Additionally, many fans were angry at Liam for his comments about Zayn, who left the band to protect his own personal health– both physical and mental.
After much deliberation on TikTok and Twitter, fans came to the conclusion that it was not Niall who threw Liam against the wall, with opinions differing on which of the remaining three (Harry, Louis, or Zayn) did it. The debate simmered down until this past week.
On October 4th, TikTok user “@tiptoelou” posted a video with the text “i lied. put your clothes back on. we’re going to discuss who we think threw liam payne up a wall”. This video has since amassed 1.2 million views and almost 200,000 likes. At first, this video was nothing more than another addition to the “I lied, put your clothes back on” trend that was and still is sweeping TikTok. That is, until Liam Payne’s ex-fiance Maya Henry duetted the video, saying “Ok, I see this all the time everywhere … um, I’ve heard [Liam’s] insufferable stories so many times and he told me it was Zayn.”
The response from fans was immediate. Liam was getting dragged all over Twitter and TikTok, fans were praising Zayn, and some were even making edits.
Following the posting of the initial video, Henry has continued to open up about her relationship with Payne. She explains how since their breakup in May of 2022, Payne has not left her alone. He still calls and texts her, even going as far as texting and calling her mother. She discusses this and more on her TikTok account “@mayahenry”. I would encourage you to go watch those videos to get the whole story.
This news has led many fans to revisit old videos of One Direction. Some fans even go so far as to say that they can’t believe they never noticed that, “they all (the other band members) hated Liam.” Fans may think they know/knew everything about the band, but how much do we really know if there was infighting and tension between the members, leading to physical fighting, as is now proven by Henry’s video.
Finally, this new information and allegations against Liam Payne have convinced many fans that there will never be a One Direction reunion. (But let’s be real, if we haven’t gotten one by 2024 we were never getting one anyway).
However, the real issue here is not how this affects a possible reunion, but rather the gravity of Payne’s actions. He needs to be held accountable for how he treated Maya Henry and the truth deserves to be told.