Liam Payne Of One Direction Pledges To Kick Smoking Habit
Liam Payne of the band One Direction is breathing a little clearer today as a result of the popularly growing Twitter #YouCanDoItLiam campaign to support his bid to stop smoking. The popular One Direction star announced over the weekend that he intends to give up smoking cigarettes for his New Year’s Resolution in 2016. Billboard reports that Payne, at 102.7 KIIS FM’s “Jingle Ball” in Los Angeles on December 4, told observers that kicking the habit was among his top goals come January.
“I’m going to try and give up smoking, which is hard, but I do want to” the 22-year-old Payne was overheard telling People. “It’s about time. Need to grow up now.”
According to Design & Trend, the news comes just two months after the popular Payne — who has also suffered from kidney disease ever since his birth — drew criticism from his fans for sharing an Instagram photo of himself with a lit cigarette. This controversial image depicts Liam Payne dressed in a plaid shirt and holding a cigarette while on a private jet after he and his One Direction bandmates performed in Montreal as part of their “One The Road Again” tour. In the aftermath of this picture and the fan backlash that it has produced, an entire page on Tumblr is now also dedicated to catching Liam Payne in the act.
In September, Design & Trend also reported on a growing swell of annoyance toward Liam Payne following his habit being prominently displayed on social media.
“[Payne’s] 6.7 million followers on Sunday, Sept. 6,” Design & Trend noted, “soon flooded the photo with comments, and many of them were unhappy.”
One fan, in particular, was quoted as ranting, “Do you want to look like you’re 77? No. So stop smoking. Your lungs are gonna be coated in tar. You’re gonna have trouble breathing and don’t even get me started. YOU CAN GET FRICKEN CANCER FROM SMOKING. WHY WOULD YOU EVER DO IT?”
Meanwhile, the Inquisitr previously reported that this backlash regarding Payne’s smoking habit began taking place as far back as March.
Metro reports, “Between birth and the age of four, Liam had to have LOADS of tests on his kidneys, due to illness. It left him with only one working kidney, which left Liam making sure he didn’t drink too much of anything, including water! However, in August 2012 Liam tweeted that his second kidney had randomly started working again, meaning he now has two.”
In support of Liam Payne and his latest announcement, however, a host of fans have come forward, flooding Twitter with messages of support for the One Direction star using the hashtag #YouCanDoItLiam.
Regarding Liam Payne’s One Direction bandmates and their own New Year’s Resolutions, People and Billboard reported the following: Nial Horan (“succeed in the gym this year”), Harry Styles (“too early” to be thinking about 2016), and Louis Tomlinson (“never stick to mine, so I’m out”).
No backlash has been felt, however, by Styles regarding his own seeming inability to perceive exactly how much time remains until the new year.
