One Direction star Liam Payne has expressed regret at including a Harvey Winestein character in one of the band’s top viewed music videos.
The 27-year-old singer and his bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and former member Zayn Malik all hammed it up for the 2013 track Best Song Ever.
In the music video for the multimillion selling single, the boys play a variety of characters.
Credits in the video show the ‘cast’ as Niall Horan as “Harvey, the Studio Exec,” Harry Styles as “Marcel the marketing guy”, Liam Payne as “Leeroy the choreographer”, Louis Tomlinson as “Jonny, the Studio Exec” and former bandmate Zayn Malik as “the sexy assistant”.
However, in a online Q&A with fans this week, Liam and video director Ben Winston confirmed the character 27-year-old Niall played was based on disgraced 68-year-old film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Speaking via Instagram Live, Ben said: “We couldn’t make that video these days. We based a character on Harvey Weinstein. Listen, he was just a famous guy . . . ”
Suggesting a deep regret for the parody, Liam added: “I know, I often think about that. Jesus Christ.”
The video sees Niall and Louis’ characters in the midst of an innuendo suggested conversations about Angelina Jolie.
While Niall, as ‘Harvey’, is seen in the video saying: “I love the Direction!”, ordering an off-screen person to get him a coffee, and barking: “Hey, wise guy! Get outta my office!”
The video itself has been viewed over 700 million times, while the single sold over two million copies around the world.
The track failed to top the charts, however, reaching only Number 2 in the UK.
Harvey Weinstein is currently in jail after being found guilty for a string of sex crimes last year.
He was handed a 23-year jail sentence in March last year – and is serving time behind bars at Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York.
