An acquaintance of Liam Payne has criticized his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, for sharing an AI-generated tribute marking a year since the One Direction star’s passing.
Payne passed away on October 16, 2024, aged 31, after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The singer was in Argentina with Cassidy to support his former bandmate Niall Horan, whose concert was on October 2.
Cassidy returned to Florida a week later while Payne chose to stay in Buenos Aires to continue his vacation. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when he fell from the hotel.
As the one-year mark of Payne’s untimely death approaches, Cassidy used her Instagram Stories to share AI-generated images of herself with the late singer.
One image depicted Payne holding Cassidy, who was dressed in a pink floral dress.
While the effort may have been intended as a heartfelt tribute, one friend anonymously expressed their disapproval to the Mirror after Cassidy shared the images on Instagram.
The former colleague labeled the post as ‘distasteful’ and ‘unhelpful’, stating, “Who does this? Of course she is fully entitled to remember Liam, but this all feels a bit much. It’s surely triggering for those who loved Liam.”
“There is some sympathy for Kate but creating a photo of them together so soon after his death is completely strange and also upsetting for so many who loved Liam.”
Additionally, the source told the Daily Mail, “His parents are normal people, a normal family who don’t play the fame game, they don’t have time for influencers or TikTokers. They saw what fame did to him and they don’t want any part of it. They will grieve their son forever, privately.”
Requests for comment have been made to Cassidy.
In the aftermath of Payne’s death, Cassidy shared how she learned of her partner’s tragic incident.
“I feel blessed I didn’t find out over social media because I just couldn’t even imagine that. I was in our home with our dog, scrolling TikTok and one of Liam’s friends called me,” she recounted to The Sun.
“That moment, it’s like blank; it’s blacked out in my head.”
“I didn’t believe it at first. I thought it was just a rumour. Or something that somebody made up just to get views. Then instantly I just had a bad feeling in my gut. I was like, ‘Why would somebody make this up? Is this true?’”