Liam Payne has finally spoken out about his viral moment after this year’s Oscars, when he was interviewed on Good Morning Britain using a seemingly ever-changing accent.
Last month, the former One Direction singer spoke to GMB live on the red carpet of an Oscars after-party, where he was asked about the Will Smith drama that had broken out just hours earlier.
However, it wasn’t what Liam had to say that ended up causing a stir, but the way he said it. Or, more specifically, the accent he said it in.
Using an apparent mix of Welsh, Irish, American and Scandinavian accents (with a bit of his own usual twang thrown in for good measure), Liam said: “I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do. I also felt like there were three losers in one fight... It’s a very sad thing.”
The clip of Liam ended up going viral, which the Strip That Down singer finally addressed in an Instagram live on Monday night.
“I’m good at accents, I pride myself on them!” he told his fans. “I just wish sometimes I could do my own.
“It was quite funny. I had asked the Good Morning Britain presenter, ‘Please don’t ask me too much because I’ve had a lot to drink and I’m under-ly educated about the Oscars’. The very first question the man asked me was, ‘What do you think about Will Smith?’.”
“Now can you imagine being put on the spot in that moment and knowing, ‘I can’t say anything wrong because I’m gonna upset someone’?” he added, insisting he “just did the best I could”.
“I actually read back what I said and I stand by what I said,” Liam claimed. “I’m just sorry it came out in so many accents!”
Offering a more serious explanation for his hybrid accent, Liam suggested: “To tell you the truth, I was staying in a house with two German people, three people from Texas, one person from Liverpool and me. It sounded like one of those jokes people say about an Irishman and an Englishman walk into a pub – and that’s what came out.
“So, you know… what can I say? But it was funny, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, don’t have so many drinks and address the country,” he concluded.
Elsewhere in his Instagram live, Liam praised his former bandmate Harry Styles’ recent set at Coachella, which included a surprise appearance from Shania Twain.
“I’m so happy he got to perform with Shania,’ he said. “He’s not fake, by the way, she really is one of his favourite, favourite artists. So, as a bigger brother, it’s nice to see that he gets to perform with those people.
“Calvin Harris, if you’re watching, I’d like the same from you for me.”
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am.