Liam Payne Fans Furious As He's Labeled A 'Drugged-up, Faded Boy Band Singer' By Former Anchor

Former top British news anchor Michael Buerk has come under fire for calling late singer Liam Payne a "drugged-up" and "faded" person.

Buerk made the remarks while criticizing news coverage of the former One Direction star, particularly by the BBC, claiming that his death has been made to seem more important than other events.

Liam Payne died last week Wednesday after falling off the balcony of the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Buerk is facing major backlash for his comments about Payne's death a week after the singer's fatal fall in Argentina.

The former news anchor was asked on Radio 4's Today program about the ways he feels foreign journalism has changed.

Responding, he took aim at the coverage of Payne's death, saying, "There was more of an appetite for seriousness. It was only last week this program decided that the most important thing that had happened in the world was that a drugged-up, faded boy band singer had fallen off a balcony."

He continued, "Even the 10 O'clock News, which is normally good on these things, thought it was the second most important thing that happened in the world."

Buerk further claimed that there is a "wider agenda or a wider appetite," adding that "if you look at the news these days, they seem to be hammering away at the same half dozen stories while whole continents go unmentioned for month after month."

Since sharing his thoughts on the coverage of Payne's death, Buerk has come under heavy scrutiny, with fans of the late singer slamming him across social media for his "insensitive" remarks.

Writer and editor Jenny Landreth wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Blimey. Michael Buerk on #R4today expressing his surprise that the death of a 'drugged-up fading boyband member' led the news. He seemed so ... disdainful."

She added, "I mean, you can talk about what you consider to be 'wrong news priorities' without sneering at the death of a man. You really can."

Another person noted, "Michael Beurk didn't need to use the words he did to talk about his problems with news values. He has shown himself to be an unkind and cruel man."

Amid the criticisms, Beurk received support from people who felt there was too much coverage on the death of Liam Payne.

Someone commented, "Michael Buerk… the official spokesman for a majority of the nation today! Well done for saying what most of us thought."

Payne rose to fame alongside Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson as members of the boy band One Direction, which was created in 2010 on the X Factor TV show. They eventually went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016 after Malik left the group to pursue a solo career.

On Wednesday last week, it was confirmed that Payne died after falling 45 feet to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

According to a toxicology report, the "Strip That Down" singer had a cocktail of drugs in his system, including "pink cocaine," which is known to be a mixture of methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine.

His hotel room was recently raided for drugs as part of an ongoing investigation by Argentine police amid claims that staff in the building supplied Payne with the drugs, which may have ultimately led to his fatal fall.

A person close to Payne recently claimed he had been "clean for weeks" before his Argentina trip.

"He had been to rehab more than once," the close pal told the Daily Mail. "He had had treatment in the UK and in California, and he had recently been taken on by a new psychiatrist in Florida. Everyone around Liam hoped that he was on the path to recovery."

Sadly, Payne's alleged sobriety journey was disrupted when he arrived in the country due to dealers that "preyed" on him.

The insider added. "Liam was 100 percent sober. But when he checked in at the hotel, at some point, someone there started giving him drugs."

They continued, "Liam had tried really hard to get clean, then they preyed on him. These people only care about money. They didn't care about his health."

A friend of Kate Cassidy, Payne's girlfriend, recently spoke to the New York Post, claiming that the couple had an extensive back-and-forth over how long they would spend in Argentina.

Payne reportedly traveled to the South American country with Cassidy to renew his visa. While she planned to stay for just five days, they stayed for more than two weeks because the singer had begged her not to leave.

For Cassidy, spending more time in Argentina reportedly felt like a "hostage situation" due to Payne pleading with her to stay.

"So she tells him she wants to leave, this is after a week. He begs her to stay," the close friend said about Cassidy. "She keeps extending her trip, a day, two days. And he just wants her to stay, stay, stay."

They added, "I get what people are saying, that she should just stay with her rich, famous boyfriend, but she wanted to be home in her own bed with her dog. She wanted to come home. So eventually, she says she's going home."

Since his death, Cassidy has shared a heartfelt tribute to Payne and even posted a photo of a note the singer gave her, in which he vowed to marry her "within a year."