Imagine going on a TV show to promote your music and then having the hosts bring up traumatic deaths in your family, ex bandmates and a reunion with said band that may or may not happen. Sounds pretty awful, right? Well, it’s something Louis Tomlinson experienced this week when he appeared on the BBC Breakfast show.
During the interview, Tomlinson tried to remain calm and collected when the hosts asked him about the death of his mother and sister, his “spat” with former One Direction member Zayn Malik, and the potential of a 1D reunion – however, when the show wrapped, the singer made his feelings known.
Taking to Twitter, Tomlinson wrote, “Defo won’t be going on there again haha! Love to all my fans for always having my back.”
BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker responded, tweeting, “Sorry you feel like that. It was nice to speak to you on #BBCBreakfast this morning. Can I ask what you are upset about?”
In response, Tomlinson wrote, “I was upset that you continued to ask me about my grief. It goes without saying how hard it is to lose both people so close to me. The least I ask is that you respect my decision of not wanting to be asked in interviews about something so painful.”
“I’m lucky enough to have a creative outlet for me to talk about grief this doesn’t however give you the right to talk about it for gossip purposes,” he added.
Despite making his feelings clear, Walker responded again: “Hi Louis. We were asking you about the song on your new album about your mum. We know it’s painful which is why we didn’t dwell on it. No intention to upset you or be ‘gossipy’ about it at all. That’s not our style on #BBCBreakfast.”
While Walker insisted that he and his co-host weren’t trying to “dwell” on Louis Tomlinson’s grief and therefore capitalise on it, his response lacks in sincerity – especially after he hashtagged the name of the show, in some sort of effort to draw attention to it.
Louis Tomlinson lost his 18-year-old sister last April, just two years after the death of his mother Johannah Deakin, who died at 43 following a battle with cancer. It’s never okay to exploit someone’s grief – whether they’re famous, or not.