Chris Cornell‘s daughter Toni Cornell has hit out over coverage of Liam Payne‘s death.
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Payne passed away at the age of 31 last Wednesday (October 16) after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentinian prosecutor’s office revealed that Payne’s cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.
Taking to her Instagram Stories page, she drew particular attention to TMZ and its decision to publish photos of Payne’s hotel room and his body.
She wrote: “In the wake of Liam Payne’s tragic passing, I feel compelled to speak out about the disgusting, distressing photos released by TMZ including graphic images of his hotel room and body.
“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.
“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.
“While the images of Liam have since been taken down, it means nothing. They should never have been put up in the first place, and 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.”
Her father Chris Cornell died by suicide on May 18, 2017. He was 52 years old.
Toni Cornell’s comments come after TMZ executive producer Michael Babcock defended the decision to use the images while appearing on Fox 5 New York (via The Mirror) on Thursday (October 17).
He said at the time: “There’s a balance, and that’s obviously a conversation that newsrooms across the world have – you want to be sensitive to the family and to the friends and also while working a news story.
“When the information was coming in, police had not yet confirmed that it was Liam, so what was done on the TMZ website, there was an image – did not show the full image, didn’t show his face – but that showed his arm and his abdomen, where he has some very recognisable tattoos, so that’s sort of used as a way to confirm, or to match up the tattoos at a point where police had not yet confirmed his identity. And then, once they did, obviously, that photo was removed.
He added: “I mean, it’s just a terribly horrific and sad story. It’s something obviously that shouldn’t have happened, and this guy had so much life left to live and you feel horrible for everybody.”
TMZ have yet to comment publicly on Cornell’s comments.
Meanwhile, Cheryl, who was in a relationship with Payne between 2016 and 2018 and who shares their son Bear with the late singer, also previously urged the media and the public to “give Liam the little dignity he has left” and “rest in some peace at last”.
“As I try to navigate this earth shattering event, and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being,” she recently wrote.
“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. 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,” she continued. “It is breaking my heart further that I cannot protect him from that in his future.”
Elsewhere, One Direction fans gathered in London’s Hyde Park today (October 20) to hold a vigil for Payne.
