Liam Payne has urged for women to be treated with more respect after a female member of his staff was referred to as a “mystery girl” in the press.
Last week, an article published in The Daily Mail detailed Payne arriving at a hotel in London with a so-called “mystery brunette”, implying that the One Direction singer and the woman are romantically involved.
Payne has since hit back at the way in which women are described in the media, condemning their treatment as “demeaning.”
“My team is full of talented, smart professional women,” he tweeted.
“I find it wrong that they are reduced to being linked to me romantically in the press just for simply standing next to me.
“Isn’t it time we treat women with a bit more respect?”
He continued in a second tweet, writing: “So far the press have done this with every female member of my staff.
“It’s demeaning some are in relationships and it complicates there work environment when they do this to them… I think it stops here [sic].”
A number of people have praised Payne for addressing the way in which women are insultingly referred to in the tabloids when pictured with a man.
“Thank you for speaking up. It does need to stop,” one person wrote.
“These women are hard working and part of your team. But if you’re pictured near each other, there’s [an] article about y’all being together… and that’s not true.”
“Yes! Thank you for addressing that it affects them too,” another fan commented.
“What a mature and eloquent way of shutting down the tabloids! I am proud.”
Earlier this year, Payne and Cheryl announced that they were splitting after a two-and-a-half year relationship.
They have one son together, a one-year-old called Bear.
