Liam Payne fans were left baffled when they heard his “bizarre” new accent at the 2022 Oscars.
The former One Direction star spoke to Good Morning Britain on the red carpet at Elton John AIDS Foundation’s annual Academy Awards viewing party on Sunday night.
Defending Will Smith for smacking Chris Rock at the event, the 28-year-old said: “I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do.”
The singer continued: “Will Smith actually used to live behind my house, I had the pleasure of knowing his son and daughter very well and we did Men In Black 3 with him.”
“I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do. I also felt there were three losers in one fight. He didn’t know being Chris Rock, he didn’t wanna do what he had to being Will Smith, and she did nothing, being Jada.”
“It was a powerful moment for me to sit and watch one of the world’s best emoters we’ve ever seen speak from the heart and I would rather take the beauty out of the situation than take the pain.”
“But I had to leave my chair, I’ll be honest with you, it cut me really deep and I don’t get deep about these things but I’m a big movie fan.”
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face at the #Oscars last night after he made a “GI Jane” joke about his wife Jada.
The comedian was referring to the actress’s bald hair, despite Jada previously revealing this was due to alopecia 😬 pic.twitter.com/H6HO1xMNGF
— Goss.ie (@goss_ie) March 28, 2022
Liam went on to say: “Out of a horrible moment there was a little bit of beauty in what came on and I’m sure everyone’s apologetic about what happened.”
“But ask yourself what would you do in the situation, I don’t know how we would react, we’re all human.”
“I hope everyone’s ok. I really reach out to you guys, I hope you’re ok. And I don’t wanna expand a situation that doesn’t need to expand any further.”
“I think we all know what happened. Let’s just take the positive out of it.”
'I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do.'
'I had to leave my chair I'll be honest with you, it cut me really deep.'@LiamPayne reacts to the dramatic moment Will Smith hit comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars for making a joke about his wife. pic.twitter.com/OGT4bA8jDi
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 28, 2022
Fans took to Twitter to react to the interview, with many commenting on Liam’s unusual accent.
The singer is from Wolverhampton and resides in Los Angeles.
One fan tweeted: “What’s with the accent and what was he actually saying? Rambling word salad,” while another wrote: “Yeah Will Smith smacking Chris Rock is shocking, but what’s happened to Liam Payne’s accent?!”
A third penned: “I enjoy this video so much. The strange American/Irish/Dutch accent. The two minutes of pure wired-guy-talks-about-meaning-of-life-in-smoking-area energy. The lack of explanation as to why they actually asked Liam Payne in the first place?? Amazing.”
crying at his accent, it’s like an Irish guy who’s lived in America for most of his life is pretending to be Liam Payne https://t.co/JC4bzl0zG3
— Andrew Gentry (@andrewgentry_) March 28, 2022
Why are they asking Liam Payne and why does he sound like that https://t.co/AKYRw2oAxn
— Bolu Babalola (@BeeBabs) March 28, 2022
Damn Will Smith slapped Chris Rock so hard it changed Liam Payne’s accent https://t.co/wlotLlHuhm
— Abbie◟̽◞̽ (@Always_Yxu) March 28, 2022
Everyone’s ignoring the bigger scandal. Liam Payne has a whole new accent. https://t.co/xawuVwhnM6
— Liz Bates (@wizbates) March 28, 2022
crying at his accent, it’s like an Irish guy who’s lived in America for most of his life is pretending to be Liam Payne https://t.co/JC4bzl0zG3
— Andrew Gentry (@andrewgentry_) March 28, 2022
This is the funniest thing to come our of this whole situation. Everything about this interview is comedy gold. The accent. The jaw. The absolute shite being chatted. It’s just so good. Liam payne’s mind is in its own galaxy https://t.co/fiSIlfY6Ri
— K8🪸 (@diskoboll) March 28, 2022