That Zayn Malik just quit One Direction's world tour is bound to be a sensitive subject for the band's millions of worldwide fans and followers. So perhaps making light of that situation wasn't the smartest move, as Liam Payne is probably figuring out. The One Direction singer cracked a joke about Malik's departure in a photo posted on Twitter- since then, he's faced significant backlash from One Direction's fanbase, calling him disrespectful to his bandmate.
In the photo (seen above), the band, minus Malik, can be seen posing with two fans while the band was performing in Indonesia. The group held up a promotional poster of One Direction, while Liam slyly swooped in and covered up Malik's face with his hand. When posting the photo on Twitter, Payne included the following caption: "#makinglightofasituation sorry for the laughs guys."
But according to the latest reports, his fans are absolutely furious about the gag on Twitter. What some fans are saying:
"Liam just don't please ..."
"did you rlly cover up Zayn what kind of disrespect"
"that was mad shady tho"
It was at that point that Liam sent out a follow-up to atone (sort of...) for what he had done, saying "never mind" to his followers. As well, he posted around a similar time- "Some people can't take a joke ... Bit of banter guys chill out."
This latest bit of social media struggle comes after Malik quit the band's world tour very recently, citing "stress" as the primary factor behind his sudden departure back to the UK. However, most people speculate that "stress" is a code word for the recent cheating accusations that have been flung against Malik- although he's engaged to singer Perrie Edwards, he was recently spotted with his arm around a woman in Phuket, Thailand- a woman who is definitely not Perrie Edwards.
Check back soon for the latest updates on Malik's status with One Direction's world tour, and the band's reaction to it.
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