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Liam Payne has responded to a Daily Mail piece that slams One Direction for their recent behavior and questions the entire relationship between the band and its supporters.
The article by Jan Moir accuses One Direction of taking their fame (and their fans) for granted, alleges that the group is purely “manufactured” and without real musical talent, and charges the members with pretending to be wholesome and interested in their Directioners but really only caring about money.
“One Direction are in a cynical class of their own,” writes Moir.
She later adds:
They fostered the notion that they and the Directioners are all friends together in this big, crazy adventure; that their special fan/band dynamic is one built on mutual love, respect and affection. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. It is a relationship built on cold, hard cash in an aggressive and hugely successful commercial enterprise.
One Direction are the biggest-selling group in the world. And their rise to the top has been cynical and exploitative, even by grasping music industry standards.
So they can’t have it both ways. They cannot shake down millions of little girls, emptying their piggy-banks and pink plastic purses of all their pocket money without feeling even a whisker of responsibility.
They cannot encourage the wide-eyed teenies to love and adore them, then snicker and mock the books and products they encourage their fans to buy. They just can’t — but they just did. No wonder parents are annoyed.
All that mums and dads ask of groups such as One Direction is that they repay their faith and financial investment by staying squeaky clean until their 15 minutes of fame are over or their daughters grow up — whichever happens first. What they do after that is entirely their own business.
Yet One Direction have failed to keep their part of the bargain.
Is this the beginning of the end?
On Saturday, Payne struck back.
While acknowledging that the and his band mates deserve some criticism, the singer blasted Moir for being “far off” with her allegations and then addressed the group’s enormous fan base.
What do you think of Payne’s response to Moir?
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