Liam Payne's accent leaves fans seriously confused as he defends Will Smith's Chris Rock Oscars slap

Liam Payne's accent
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Liam Payne's accent left viewers of Good Morning Britain seriously baffled as he gave his two cents on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. 

Appearing on ITV live from LA this morning, the former One Direction star shared his thoughts on the moment Will Smith took to the Oscars stage to slap Chris Rock, after the comedian made a comment about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's haircut.

Referring to Jada's shaved head, which is a result of alopecia, Chris said, "Jada, can't wait for GI Jane 2."

After Jada, who sat down with Will to reveal the truth behind those cheating allegations back in 2020, rolled her eyes at the remark, Will climbed up on stage and hit Chris in the face, before telling him, "Keep my wife's name out your fu***** mouth."

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What's happened to Liam Payne's accent?

As he spoke out on the moment from the Oscars after it had happened, Liam Payne's accent (which appears to have drastically changed from the Wolverhampton twang he's always had) sparked some major confusion among viewers.

Upon hearing his new-found voice, which fans have hailed as a mix of Irish, Welsh, American and South African, viewers flocked to social media to air their utter bewilderment.

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"What in God’s name has happened to Liam’s accent?! He sounds in Payne," one joked, while another asked, "I spent 19 years growing up in Wales yet Liam Payne somehow has a stronger Welsh accent than me?!"

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"Crying at his accent, it’s like an Irish guy who’s lived in America for most of his life is pretending to be Liam Payne," a third chipped in. 

"That slap was so hard it changed Liam Payne’s Wolverhampton accent to a posh London one," a fourth added.

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"Not entirely sure what I’m struggling to comprehend most - Will Smith hitting Chris Rock at the Oscars or Liam Payne’s accent when being interviewed about it," another tweet read.

In the bizarre interview, Liam admitted he felt there was no winner in the situation between Will, Chris and Jada, but opened up about his friendship with Will and his kids, Jaden and Willow.

"Will Smith actually used to live behind my house. I've had the pleasure of knowing his son and is daughter very well. I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do," Liam said.

"I believe there were three losers in one fight," he added.

Caitlin Elliott
Junior News Editor

Caitlin is a Junior News Editor for Goodto.com, covering all things royal, celeb, lifestyle, food, and family. Having set her sights on becoming a magazine journalist when she was a child, Caitlin took on work experience stints at local papers and titles such as Cosmopolitan, Now, Reveal and Take a Break while studying for her Multimedia Journalism degree and has interviews with celebs, reality stars and the Archbishop of Canterbury under her belt (of course, she couldn't resist asking him about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry).