"Beyond deplorable": Internet condemns TMZ for sharing pictures of Liam Payne's body moments after his death

As former One Direction member Liam Payne tragically died on October 16, several people have condemned TMZ for allegedly sharing pictures of some parts of his body shortly after his death.

The incident occurred at CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina where the 31-year-old musician stayed.

Alberto Crescenti, the director of Buenos Aires Emergency Medical Services (SAME) said the hotel called first responders on Wednesday evening after an unnamed man, supposedly under the influence of some substance, behaved erratically in the lobby.

TMZ reported the unnamed man was supposedly Liam, as he was seen smashing his laptop across the hotel lobby and had to be escorted back to his room by a staff member.

According to police statements, Liam fell to his death from the balcony of his hotel room on the third floor. The paramedics declared him dead once they found his body in CasaSur’s inner courtyard.

However, some netizens on X claimed TMZ had announced the tragic news along with pictures of Liam's tattooed hand and waist. X user @ellkay_ called it "beyond deplorable."

"Liam Payne dies at 31 and leaves behind a kid and TMZ casually decides to post pictures of his body (tattoos) to confirm his death... hate it here", condemned another X user.

"TMZ partially showed liam payne's deceased body in their article breaking the news. may that entire trashy "news" outlet be smashed to oblivion and may every "journalist" working for them rot in hell", wrote one.

Scars To Your Beautiful hitmaker Alessia Cara also slammed the outlet.

Some brought up Liam's controversially abusive history and wrote it is still insensitive to post pictures of one's dead body regardless of how people felt about the singer.

"no matter how you felt about liam payne, posting pictures of his dead body is f***ing mental i hope tmz burns to the ground", critiqued one X user.

Some others said it was awful to post pictures of Liam's body, given that he leaves behind a seven-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne.

"liam payne literally has a child and tmz are posting pictures of his dead body on the internet. f***ing money hungry vultures", wrote one.

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TMZ likely deleted pictures of Liam Payne's body following the backlash

According to X user @seeitinmymind TMZ claimed in their article that they obtained a photo where Liam's body was found on a wooden deck amidst "tables and chairs nearby", further adding:

"We're not showing the whole body, but you can clearly see his tattoos - a clock on his left forearm, and a scorpion on his abdomen."

Another tweet from X user @triffic_stuff_ contained the alleged pictures shared by the outlet, with their watermark clearly visible on the said images.

However, at the time of writing this article, the alleged pictures could not be found in the outlet's published report or their tweets. TMZ likely removed the images from their article following the criticism online.