‘They are mourning the man he used to be’: Liam Payne’s shocking death resurrects the hypocrisy of public mourning and the dark side of idolization
The collective reactions to Liam Payne’s death have been widespread, with many opposing degrees of grief and anger.
The former idol from British phenomenon One Direction allegedly fell from his hotel balcony on the evening of October 16, 2024. The circumstances leading to his death are still under investigation. However, according to reports of a 911 call earlier that day, Liam Payne was possibly seen acting erratically and under the influence of alcohol and/or substances in the hours before his death.
In the past week, Liam Payne’s ex-fiancé had come forward with allegations about the abusive nature of their relationship. Maya Henry had an on/off relationship with Liam Payne from 2018 to 2022. This tumultuous relationship was rumored to have inspired Henry’s novel “Looking Forward,” about a girl who falls in love with a musician who is physically and emotionally abusive. Maya Henry confirmed on the podcast “Internet is Dead” that this was true, with many scenes in the book being faithful and only the timeline and names being changed.
This sent the internet into a spiral: many rushed to denounce Liam Payne and “cancel” him. Now he has died, these black-and-white beliefs have people confused.
From the perspective of a One Direction fan and the child of an alcoholic, I feel empathy for the apparent trauma that Liam Payne suffered as a kid thrust into stardom, all the celebrity pressures and his lack of success afterward; how substance abuse could be such an easy crutch to numb his pain. There is room to hold empathy for that.
However, this situation also ties in with the saying, “hurt people hurt people,” as we’ve learned recently, Liam Payne was no stranger to inflicting trauma on others. His past and his death do not excuse or erase what he did to his ex-partner and other potential victims, according to Maya Henry’s claims that he sought out fans to manipulate to his liking.
Yet, to complicate emotions further, Liam Payne’s tragic death was overrun with gruesome grips for attention. TMZ made a disgusting decision in the reporting of the idol’s death to release cropped photos of his dead body. Others on Twitter have taken it upon themselves to re-share these images and post videos claiming to be of his death. Some repost photos of Payne’s hotel room in disarray released by TMZ and make quick assumptions from there. All of this is only a matter of 4-6 hours after his death, with 0 consideration for the mourning process of Payne’s family.
He may have been a celebrity, but he was also a person, and everyone deserves some level of respect and common decency. The release and spread of these images are an invasion of privacy; his family, friends and loved ones have barely had time to accept the truth before the internet took ownership of the situation.
Maya Henry has been quickly demonized by grieving fans as they blame her for Liam Payne’s death. This hateful mob may be grieving, but in that framework, they also have no right to blame Payne’s victim for his demise. It’s tragic, but as far as reports have shown, it was no one’s fault.
On the flip side, I found a tweet drawing a stark comparison between the number of people mourning Liam Payne on social media and the silence of many concerning the genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. In all reality, it’s a perfectly reasonable response considering the lack of authentic media attention to the devastation of Israel’s occupation; however, is mere hours after his death the time and the place? As those in Palestine and Lebanon deserve respect, so do those in the public eye.
This is all to say how profound it was to see societal dysphoria on display at such a scale after one moment on a Wednesday evening to consider the treatment of young stars, the aggressive stakes of media outlets, the lack of respect for privacy, para-social relationships, victims of psychological abuse, and western society’s dichotomized attention span: the many nuances of Liam Payne’s death have brought social crises to the forward of societal consciousness.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
