Paparazzi/ fans at Liam Payne's funeral

[PotNoodlesFTW]

AIBU to think that the paparazzi, media, and 1D fans should have stayed away from Liam Payne's funeral?

His loved ones deserve the right to privacy at this time, regardless of how famous they might otherwise be. Also, his son is only 7 and can't consent to any of this nonsense!

How did they know where it was? The press says Home Counties which isn’t very specific.

There are papers now specifying the church.

He was a big star, there are fans who will feel strong grief over his death who want to say their farewells as well. Celebrity deaths are always the same

I do think the paps taking photos of the grieving friends and family is a bit much

But as someone who knew Liam several years ago, I wanted to know when the funeral was as a sense of closure myself. If it had been local, I might well have made my way there to say a farewell of my own

The family told the press but also told them no photos of close family. I'm not so much upset at the press more the ghoulish people stood watching filming and taking photos as if it's a jolly day out not the funeral of a young man.

Completely agree. Disgusting. Just mourn privately. People are the worst.

Some years ago I remember Justin Bieber wrote that he hoped Anne Frank would have been a ‘bielieber’, there was backlash, but I remember one defence of him is that actually we forget sometimes that Anne was a teenager, she actually might have been a fan of his if the timing was different. In a similar sense Liam would probably love that he has the limelight in his final farewell, his family will mourn in private, but he performed for his fans, he would want this attention from the media and his followers. The spotlight one last time.

A freind lives nearby and has said there's helicopters flying overhead. It's awful.

Fame should never strip someone of the dignity to mourn or be mourned in peace. It's fair to expect the media and fans to exercise restraint and the priority should be for the humanity of the situation, not the sensationalism.

I think the people seen in the graveyard, apparently filming the whole thing on their phones, were being really disrespectful. The family informed the press of the funeral's location this morning, on the understanding no photos of the family were to be taken - yet there are clear photos of his parents. The media were obviously hoping for some photos of the remaining 1D members together, but they were all photographed separately, going into the church. I hope the wake (if there is one) is completely private.

I don't think we have any right to make those assumptions, and even regardless of that, it's incredibly insensitive to his friends and family who had genuine relationships with him, not the parasocial ones his fans had. They should be allowed privacy to mourn in peace.

no-one can say what Liam would have 'loved' as he's dead. Perhaps he would have appreciated conversations and threads over the last month about his vocal talent, song writing, and contribution to great memories for so many people. I'm not sure that would stretch to paparazzi profiting off the pain of his grieving family and friends whose privacy the media invaded during his funeral.

I couldn't agree more. I can't imagine how horrific it must be grieving while the world's cameras are pointed at you.

Whether we like it or not his family were fine with the media following him when his star was high in the sky, unfortunately with fame, as everyone knows by now there is a darker side, it should not be a surprise that the media and his fans @NImumconfused were there at his funeral, I’m sure his family will have a private service and reflect quietly with their memories.

Liam was still courting fame before he died, he wanted attention, it’s not unknown that the media behave this way, a famous person knows they can’t just have the good bits to suit their careers, however wrong this may be this is how the media and famous persons interact, it’s the downside to having an uncensored free press.

Whether or not Liam wanted attention/fame or not is irrelevant. He gives consent only for himself; he does not give consent for his friends and family to be photographed at this difficult time.

Also, it is completely unacceptable for people to impose upon his innocent child, who can't consent to anything.

Well exactly! 👍🏻

I don’t think they did announce where the funeral was taking part except for a vague reference of the general geographic area which covers a wide area.

One Direction were massive in their day. The band members haven’t been seen together for the last decade and the five of them with never be in the same room again. Of course there was always going to be a huge media coverage of it.

The law needs to change in that respect. This is a private, intimate, moment for these men. Nobody has the right to gawk at it.

Very few people have any rights at all.

I do agree with you. Funerals are difficult enough as it is. When you aren’t in the public eye, like Liam’s family, but you are having to take part in an event where you are probably as heartbroken as you’ve ever been, it seems unbelievably wrong that it’s not private.

From what I can gather, it was a very quick walk into church, and out of it again, with everything else being kept private. It’s still not right but either the media intrusion wasn’t any worse than expected and anticipated or else the UK media has had the decency not to publish it.

Nowhere near the same but my grandad was a local celebrity. He died suddenly fairly young - late 50s - 25 years ago.

I was only a teenager but I remember my dad finding out that his dad had died by a stranger as like Liam, my grandad also died publicly and the gossip mongers started up.

The funeral was horrific. Hundreds of people turned up and pushed their way into the church so that by the time we arrived after following the coffin, the church was packed.

We had to stand at the back of the crowded church at first whilst every Tom, Dick and Harry who had ever heard of my grandad turned up to get a glimpse of him in open coffin (cultural reasons) until my grandma absolutely lost her shit and told everyone to get out the way.

I remember to this day how it felt to be stared at by hundreds of people whilst grieving, I don’t think I have ever processed it properly. I know my dad has never got over the hearing the description of his dad’s passing before the gossip realised who they were speaking to.

I cannot stop thinking how awful this must be for Liam’s family to have the world’s eyes on them and not be afforded privacy in their worst moments. Yes he was a hugely famous singer, but he was also someone’s father, son, brother and friend. The added complexity of having to even think about the media on a day like today is just awful.

Jesus Christ. He was 14 when he went on X Factor for the first time. How could he possibly have known the reality of fame?

He wouldn’t and no matter what he or his parents thought still wouldn’t have been adequate.

There must've been some tacit guidance which was adhered to - US reports were giving more info than UK publications. Home Counties is very vague. As for fans, it's not something I would do and would've been embarrassed to be there. I feel for his parents. How terribly sad.

Well Liam may have wanted attention but his family and child probably didn't. The grief vultures skulking and hiding amongst headstones at the funeral yesterday were disgraceful, intruding on a family's grief is not a thing to be proud of.

Well if there was no information released there would not be enough information for people to create multiple threads of a celebrity death or other celebrity 'gossip'

People seem to live for it so the paparazzi only gives people what they want

Sure I think this endless gossip thing is appalling but people create it themselves

I have always found it quite disturbing the way the press publish photos of people mourning at a funeral.

The intrusion is appalling, as was the coverage of how/when he died, especially when you read things like this:

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/liam-paynes-sister-found-out-30195740

His poor family.