Piers Morgan told to 'do better' over Liam Payne's death comments

Piers Morgan has faced criticism for his comments on the tragic death of former One Direction member, Liam Payne. The singer tragically fell from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last week, leading to his untimely death at the age of 31 due to multiple traumas causing an "internal and external haemorrhage".

In a recent episode of his YouTube show, Piers was joined by Howie Mandel, Katie Waissel, James Barr and Esther Krakue to discuss the devastating news. Piers revealed that substances including cocaine, crack and benzodiazepine were found in Liam's system at the time of his death.

Local reports suggested these were part of a cocktail known as "pink cocaine", which includes drugs such as MDMA, ketamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepine and crack. During the discussion, former America's Got Talent judge Howie Mandel commented that on shows like Got Talent and X Factor, there are people available to support contestants who may be struggling.

He added: "This is not a talent thing. In fact, Liam if he came to a talent thing, his outcome was great. The people who are rejected have the harder time."

He noted that Liam had been candid about his past struggles with substance abuse before achieving sobriety. Piers remarked: "Howie, let me bring in Katie – what I will say there about Liam, who I didn't know very well. I know some members of the band One Direction much better – Niall is a good friend of mine and so on. Clearly Niall and Harry Styles and Louis, they've all built incredibly successful solo careers, I've covered many boybands over the years, some of them end up doing better than others when they go solo.", reports the Mirror.

Katie has meanwhile moved towards a career in law and has spoken out about the insufficient support she and her former co-stars were given after their 2010 talent show experience.

Amidst discussions on The X Factor's responsibility towards its contestants, Howie interjected forcefully: "Nothing, nothing, nothing."

James Barr chimed in: "Yet these shows would describe these people as their family." In a heated moment, Howie raised his voice over Katie questioning: "Did she need help then? ! " Esther joined the debate, commenting: "When these people are becoming famous and they're getting the money that they want. But when you have the dark side of fame, that apparently becomes everyone else's fault."

However, the remarks faced criticism on social media where some accused him of placing undue blame on Liam. "Do better... You should know better than to blame the victim," one irate former Twitter user, now known as X, expressed. Another added: "Piers Morgan doesn't make any sense."

A third chimed in: "Yes a dark side of fame, but no not suddenly it is everyone's fault. Fans/ public have known for a while how terrible the industry is. We have spoken out many times before. Liam is just the current artist to have something tragic happen. So many have passed under suspicious causes."

"The fact Piers and Howie were even considered 'talent' judges at one point in time without having an ounce of it themselves is bizarre, Leave Liam rest in peace, don't throw stones while living in a glass house," another vented.

A fifth commented: "People have been screaming about the lack of care for minors and adults in this industry w/ little care or concern for their wellbeing. He took responsibility for his addictions but no one has taken responsibility for how the lack of care."

Katie Waissel has since hit back, stating: "It was abhorrent from start to finish."

Since the news of Liam's death, over 60,000 people have signed an online petition, urging the government to enact legislation to protect musicians and their mental health, which fans have insisted be named "Liam's law."