The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has posted a new video on his YouTube channel to respond to the backlash he received for a previous video he made about the late Liam Payne.
In the video, Hawkins reads some of the comments he received from fans. Some viewers shared their dissatisfaction with one of Hawkins’ older videos from two years ago about Payne, suggesting that he should take it down now that Payne has passed away. However, Hawkins refuses to delete the video and agrees with some commenters who believe ‘history shouldn’t be hidden.’ “I didn’t see that Liam situation coming. I didn’t pay enough attention to his career to recognize that they were signs of mental instability, I just thought it was definitely somebody who wasn’t coping with fame or was trying to put big themselves up or come across as something that was a little bit inauthentic, and that’s what I was highlighting, really,” Hawkins explained.
He continued: “I don’t think I actually said it, I think it really was just watching some videos where he was obviously behaving like a bellend, as simple as that,” he continued. “There’s videos of just about every artist in the world who are on a bad day where they get interviewed and they make themselves seem like pricks. It just seems to be more of them of Liam at my disposal for that particular episode.”
Hawkins further explained why he hasn’t taken down the video. “I didn’t take it down. The reason why I didn’t take it down is because that would be like, why would I do that? Why would I pretend I hadn’t observed those things? It’s really sad what happened to him, but at the end of the day it’s not going to change my view on those specific behaviors. Everybody’s complex, there’s layers to this, and laughing at some stuff that’s laughable, that’s what I do and that’s what I’ll always do.”
The comments referred to a video titled ‘What A F***ing Muppet,’ where Hawkins reacts to an interview with Payne.
The former One Direction singer passed away at 31. He was staying at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was there to see his bandmate Niall Horan perform on October 2. Payne reportedly fell from his third-floor room.
In a statement, capital police said they were called to the hotel in Buenos Aires’ Palermo neighborhood due to an ‘aggressive man who might be under the effects of drugs and alcohol.’ Authorities confirmed that Payne’s fall resulted in ‘extremely serious injuries,’ and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Alberto Crescenti, head of Buenos Aires’ public emergency services, confirmed Payne’s death in statements to local media outlets.
