One Direction Reportedly Furious With Matt Lauer For Accusing Zayn Malik Of Substance Abuse

It doesn’t take much to upset some celebrities and, usually, the more famous they are, the more upset they tend to get, especially those in the music industry.

As reported by Radar Online today, the much-loved boy band “One Direction” is most upset with Today show host Matt Lauer’s comments regarding band member, Zayn Malik, who he accused of “substance abuse,” sparking a huge backlash on Twitter from disgruntled fans.

When Lauer interviewed the 1D on his show, as they promoted their new album, Four, Malik was noticeably absent from the band.

When Lauer asked, “Where is Zayn?” Payne, 21, responded, “He’s got a tummy bug so he’s not very well at the moment so he couldn’t make it over,” as reported also by the Independent in Britain.

Lauer’s line of questioning, following Payne’s remark, left the band stunned, as it did many of their fans, as Lauer continued, “There’s obviously a lot of concern, a lot of fans have been tweeting overnight. There’s been a lot of action on social media about him. Is it something more serious than just a minor illness? There have been rumors of substance abuse. What’s going on?”

In the spur of the moment and under the circumstances, One Direction members kept their cool and responded wisely, as an inside source told Radar, “They did not know that they were going to be put on the spot like that and had they have known, they would have never done Today. It was incredibly unprofessional of Matt and management is furious! The boys of One Direction are threatening that they will never go on the Today show again!”

Following the show, Zayn Malik spoke to the Sun, about how felt about Matt Lauer’s comments.

“I’m really angry and upset by what was said on the Today show. I was really ill at the weekend, that’s why I couldn’t fly to America. I was gutted to have to miss album release day, but I’m going to be back as soon as I can. As soon as I’m feeling better I’m going to join the guys and carry on with the promotion for the album.”

As such, according to the insider, “There is no concern whatsoever for Zayn. One Direction is handling this fame thing the best they know how. But there are no specific worries for anyone in particular. If any of the boys felt that one of them was getting out of hand, you’d better bet they would have an intervention,.”