Michael Buerk has faced a backlash after he described the late Liam Payne as a ‘drugged-up, faded, boy band singer’.
The One Direction musician, 31, died after he fell 45ft to his death from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony on October 16.
But Buerk, 78, a former newsreader and Moral Maze presenter, took exception to the BBC‘s coverage of the tragic death.
Asked on the Radio 4’s Today programme about how television journalism had changed, he said: ‘There was more of an appetite for seriousness. It was only last week this programme decided that the most important thing that had happened in the world was that a drugged up, faded, boy band singer had fallen off a balcony.’
‘Even the 10 O’clock News, which is normally good on these things, thought it was the second most important thing that happened in the world.’
The insensitive comments faced criticism from listeners of the BBC programme.
Jenny Landreth wrote on X: ‘Blimey. Michael Buerk on #R4today expressing his surprise that the death of a…
