Boy George is haunted by the “not very nice” comments he made about Liam Payne in the weeks before his death on Oct. 16 and shared his regrets as the former One Direction singer is laid to rest.
The lead singer of ’80s band Culture Club, real name is George O’Dowd, made the confession on Thursday’s episode of High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes as he pondered on the importance of young celebrities having access to preventative therapy to avoid devastating drug-related incidents as what happened to Payne.
The “Strip That Down” hitmaker tragically fell to his death from a third-floor balcony of CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires and toxicology reports showed that he had illegal drugs in his system and was semi-unconscious when he fell. At the time of his death, partial autopsy reports revealed that he had “pink cocaine” – a recreational drug that’s typically a mix of methamphetamine, ketamine, MDMA, and other drugs – as well as crack, cocaine, and benzodiazepine.
“In the case of Liam Payne, I’d watched him a few days before it happened. I remember watching online and I’d actually put a message under a post saying ‘He’s off his nut,’ which wasn’t very nice, but I felt it. I felt like he was out of control,” Boy George said adding: “And when it happened, it just hit me, the same way that Amy Winehouse hit me, because it felt so senseless.”
The singer also talked about his shock upon learning of Payne’s death from the news, thinking that it wasn’t real at first. “I was up at five in the morning, and it came up on the American news, and I literally was like ‘What the f**k?’ I was literally like ‘No, this isn’t real’. I couldn’t take it in,” he shared. He added that it was “heartbreaking” to watch Payne’s dad and said: “I was quite tearful about it. I actually really felt very sad.”
Boy George was among the many celebrities who paid tribute to Payne and wrote: “How sad is the death of Liam Payne. Just awful news to wake up to. God bless his family. I am absolutely shocked. R.I.P.” He previously clashed with Payne after the 2013 BRIT Awards, where he had taken his 13-year-0ld niece. He criticized the 1D singer claiming that he refused to have a picture with her.
“Top marks to Harry Styles for stopping for a picture with my niece and B****x’s to Liam and the disrespectful w****r of a minder!” he tweeted then, to which Payne replied: “@BoyGeorge now now boy lets not tell porkies. Firstly thanks for getting my name wrong three times, then asking me where is Liam?…awkward. Then when you finally got it right saying you wanted Niall instead.”
Payne added: “If you would have asked me for a picture i would have stopped bro I just did what you said and pointed Niall out for you so u just keep wearing ur strange hats and enjoy yourself my little Georgie pie… It’s still not cool you just look weird.”
Boy George’s interview on High Performance comes on the day Payne was laid to rest. It was not the One Direction reunion fans had anticipated as former bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson all attended his funeral.
