Liam Payne Vows To ‘Stand By’ Zayn After Backlash For Dissing Him: ‘He’s My Brother’

Zayn Malik’s fans came for Liam Payne after comments he made about his former bandmate. Now, Liam has admitted that he didn’t ‘articulate himself’ as ‘well as he could have’ in the interview.

Liam Payne is setting the record straight after talking about Zayn Malik during an interview with Logan Paul earlier this week. “Guys – I wouldn’t normally comment on this stuff but when it’s your family it’s hard to let it slide,” Liam tweeted on June 2. “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. I was saying 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.”

During the podcast interview, Logan brought up his brother, Jake Paul’s, feud with Zayn, which escalated in Feb. 2020. Logan recounted Jake’s issues with Zayn. At the time of the feud, Zayn was dating Gigi Hadid, and she defended him on Twitter as Jake came for him. “He doesn’t care to hang w you and your embarrassing crew of YouTube groupies..?” Gigi wrote. “Home alone with his best friends like a respectful king cause he has me, sweetie. Unbothered by your irrelevant ugly a**. Go to bed.”

In 2021, Zayn and Gigi broke up and it was alleged that he “struck” her mother, Yolanda Hadid, during an argument. When the allegations surfaced, Jake mocked Gigi by resurfacing her tweet that referred to the singer as a “respectful king.” Then, as Logan and Liam were talking about the situation on the podcast, Liam also took the opportunity to poke fun at the message. “She tweeted something about ‘get yourself a respectful man,’ or something,” Liam said. “That one didn’t age very well.”

Meanwhile, Liam continued to discuss his relationship with Zayn, adding, “There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll alway, always be on his side.” He pointed to Zayn’s “upbringing” as to why he is the way he is. “Listen, I don’t agree with any of his actions,” Liam continued. “I can’t commend some of the things that he’s done. I can’t be on the side for that. What I can say is, I understand, and I hope that….your only hope is that, at some point in their life, the person on the other end of the phone wants to receive the help that you’re willing to give them. That’s all I’ll say.”

Fans of Zayn were not happy with Liam’s comments. They called him out for not knowing anything about the situation and urged him to keep Zayn’s name out of his mouth. After hearing the criticism, Liam decided to clarify what he meant with his June 2 tweet.