Toni Cornell, daughter of late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, has publicly condemned TMZ for their coverage of One Direction star Liam Payne’s tragic death.
Payne, just 31, passed away after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Oct. 16. The Argentinian prosecutor’s office later confirmed that his death was caused by multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.
In a scathing statement shared on her Instagram, Toni called out the website’s widely criticized decision to publish graphic photos of Payne’s hotel room and body following his passing.
In her heartfelt post, Toni Cornell reflected on her own traumatic experience after losing her father in 2017. She noted how TMZ had also published graphic images of her father’s death, which deeply affected her as a 12-year-old.
“Having seen those photos, I can’t help but reflect on my own experience when graphic images of my father’s death were also published by TMZ,” she wrote.
“As a 12-year-old, I stumbled upon those pictures while scrolling through my iPad, and it was indescribably traumatising, and something I still carry with me to this day. TMZ still has not chosen to have the decency, seven years later, to remove those photos from the internet, and it is something I believe should be done.”
Though TMZ eventually removed the images of Payne after backlash, Toni stressed that their actions came far too late.
“While the images of Liam have since been taken down, it means nothing. They should never have been put up in the first place,” she continued. “It breaks my heart to think that his 7-year-old son, Bear, might one day come across them and suffer exactly as I did.”
Cornell, 52, died in May 2017. He was found dead in his Detroit hotel room following a Soundgarden show at the Fox Theatre earlier that night.
Toni isn’t the only one to call out the shocking move. Cheryl Cole, Liam Payne’s former partner and the mother of his son Bear, also slammed media coverage of his death as “abhorrent”.
Cole posted a message to Instagram Friday (Oct. 18) to “kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being.”
“Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our 7 year old son,” she wrote, sharing a black-and-white photo of Payne cuddling with a newborn Bear in bed. “A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again.”
“What is troubling my spirit the most is that one day Bear will have access to the abhorrent reports and media exploitation we have seen in the past two days,” the singer continued. “It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in his future.”
Cole concluded, “Please give Liam the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some peace at last.”
Cole and Payne dated for about two years before separating in 2018. In March 2017, they welcomed Bear.
The four surviving members of One Direction also issued a joint statement saying they were “completely devastated” by the death of their bandmate.
