Sharing images of Liam Payne’s body hours after his death could mark the end for TMZ
On the evening of Wednesday 16 October 2024, a whole generation stood in shock as it was announced that One Direction star Liam Payne had unexpectedly died aged 31 after falling off a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Payne’s rise to mega-stardom began in 2010 on The X Factor, after he was placed in what became one of the most successful boy bands of all time, along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.
This makes it hard to overstate the impact Payne had on the 2010s as a decade and the early to late teenage years of many Gen Zers around the world.
Anne Twist, the mother of Payne’s former bandmate Harry Styles, wrote the very apt words “Just a boy,” on Instagram, in recognition of the singer’s passing.
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However, as news reports of his death started to fill phone, TV, and computer screens, one particular article garnered a lot of backlash: celebrity gossip site TMZ decided to post pictures of Payne’s dead body on its site, which netizens slammed as “insensitive and disgusting.”
Payne’s body was found in an internal patio of his hotel. Reports state that workers had heard a loud sound in the courtyard before Payne’s body was discovered just after 5 pm local time (9 pm UK time).
The police were called to the hotel by the hotel manager, who believed that the star fell from around 13 or 14 metres and suffered “very serious injuries incompatible with life.”
The photos the outlet posted showed portions of Payne’s arm and waist, which were covered in identifying tattoos.
“TMZ obtained a photo showing Liam’s body on a wooden deck at the hotel with tables and chairs nearby,” its story read. “We’re not showing the whole body, but you can clearly see his tattoo—a clock on his left forearm, and a scorpion on his abdomen.”
Following the extensive backlash the image generated, as even celebrities like Alessia Cara critiqued the choice, TMZ removed the photos and changed the copy to: “TMZ has seen a photo showing Liam’s body.”
Still, this didn’t stop netizens from expressing their disgust over the choice to show pictures of a dead man’s body to the world, before his family or close friends even had the opportunity to see him first.
TMZ faced similar backlash in 2020, following the death of basketball star Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash. The news outlet was the first to report on his death, however, the publication was later scolded by Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva for the “disrespectful” decision to jump to publish the identities of those in the aircraft, before their family and friends had even been contacted.
Payne is survived by his parents, two siblings, and his son Bear, who he shared with former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy.
