Boy George Regrets Saying Liam Payne Was 'Off His Nut' Before His Tragic Death: 'Wasn't Very Nice'

Mar. 15, 2025

In a Wednesday, Nov. 20 episode of theHigh Performancepodcast, the “Karma Chameleon” musician, 63, acknowledged that his comment toward theOne Directionalum “wasn’t very nice.”

“I’d actually put a message under a post saying, ‘He’s off his nut,’ which wasn’t very nice, but I felt it. I felt like he was out of control,” George, 63, told hosts Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes.

Boy George in October 2023; Liam Payne in March 2023.Mike Marsland/WireImage; Karwai Tang/WireImage

Boy George; Liam Payne

Mike Marsland/WireImage; Karwai Tang/WireImage

“And when [his death] happened, it just hit me. Same way thatAmy Winehousehit me just because it felt so senseless," he continued, referring to the “Valerie” hitmaker’sdeath in July 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoningat the age of 27.

George also recalled the shock he felt finding out about Payne’s death.

“You know, I was up at 5 a.m. and it came up on the American news and I literally was like ‘What the f—. I was literally like ‘No this isn’t real.’ I couldn’t take it in and I think everybody felt like that,” he said.

“I watched the dad [Geoff Payne], and it was heartbreaking. I was quite tearful about it. I really very felt sad,” he explained.

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Liam Payne in January 2018.Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 12: Liam Payne poses for a photograph as Liam Payne and Rita Ora visit KISS FM at Bauer Radio on January 12, 2018 in London, England.

Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty

Paynediedon Oct. 16 at age 31 after falling multiple stories from a balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Prosecutors also concluded that Payne was “not fully conscious or was in a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall.”

source: people.com