Simon Cowell hits out at Liam Payne

Music mogul Simon Cowell seemed to take a dig at singer Liam Payne when he praised the loyalty of the other members of One Direction.

Cowell praised the “loyalty” of the other members of One Direction — Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Niall Horan — but didn’t mention Payne, who recently signed a solo record deal with Capitol Records.

“We’re in touch with them all. The great thing about all these boys — well not all of them but most of them — they are incredibly loyal and you don’t always expect that,” Cowell said.

Leaving out Payne, he added: “Niall, Harry, Louis [are] amazing”.

Payne announced the news of his new record deal last week but said One Direction would always be his “family”.