Ed Sheeran urges people to ‘be kind’ as he pays emotional tribute to Liam Payne on Instagram
Ed Sheeran and Liam Payne previously collaborated on Payne’s debut single ‘Strip That Down’. (Getty)
Singer Ed Sheeran has paid tribute to Liam Payne and urged people to “be kind” after Payne tragically died earlier this week.
Celebrity statements and tributes have been pouring in since Payne’s death was confirmed by police in Argentina following a fall from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16.
The 31-year-old was reportedly behaving erratically, with hotel workers saying that he was under the influence from “drugs and alcohol” and was found “trashing the entire room.”
Posting a black-and-white photo of Payne smiling on Instagram, Sheeran wrote: “At a loss for words. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones, every memory I have with him is a great one, just such a heartbreaking situation.”
“Be kind,” he signed off.
Sheeran is not the only person to share a message of kindness following Payne’s death, with Take That star Robbie Williams also sharing a statement reflecting on his own issues: “Liam’s trials and tribulations were very similar to mine, so it made sense to reach out and offer what I could. So I did.”
“The internet will unfortunately carry on being the internet. The media will unfortunately carry on being the media and fame will on being fame. As individuals though we have the power to change ourselves. We can be kinder. We can be more empathic. We can at least try to be more compassionate towards ourselves, our family, our friends, strangers in life and strangers on the internet,” Williams said.
The tributes came as fans discovered vile comments had been left about the singer’s death in the review section beneath the Google listing for the hotel he died in.
Cruel trolls took the opportunity to mock the late singer and make bad taste jokes about his death by flooding the hotel he stayed at with the fake Google reviews.
Payne was open about his battle with alcoholism and mental health struggles after rising to fame aged 16 as part of One Direction alongside Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Harry Styles.
The group went on to be one of the most successful boybands in history after finishing third on The X Factor in 2010 before going on indefinite hiatus in 2015, with all five of them having successful solo careers in the years since.
In 2019, Payne said that he success and fame he found from One Direction was difficult to deal with and he used alcohol as a way to cope. Speaking to Men’s Health Australia, he said: “It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on.”
“I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic,” Payne added.
His former bandmates released individual statements and posts in honour of Payne as well as a joint statement which read: “We’re completely devastated by the news of Liam’s passing. In time, and when everyone is able to, there will be more to say. But for now, we will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.”
“The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever. For now, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the fans who loved him alongside us. We will miss him terribly. We love you Liam,” they said.
