Kate Cassidy was Liam Payne’s girlfriend for two years

If you need evidence that modern stan culture has gone way too far, look no further than online comments about Kate Cassidy. The influencer was the One Direction singer Liam Payne’s girlfriend for two years until he tragically died in October. Some One Direction obsessives are still criticising her for posting tributes to Liam Payne, for what she looked like at his funeral, or for doing pretty much anything beyond breathing. Honestly, give the poor woman a break.

Kate Cassidy recently gave her first formal interview since Liam Payne died. She spoke about how some One Direction listeners had sent her death threats and DMs so nasty she “can’t even put it into words exactly”.

Certain One Direction fans responded to this… by trolling her even more.

Her old Instagram posts are flooded right now with comments criticising her for doing an interview. People are accusing her of “cashing in” and only being in a relationship with Liam Payne “for fame and fortune”.

People have criticised pretty much everything Kate Cassidy has done since the sad news about Liam Payne. Some One Direction listeners have even gone as far as to suggest Liam Payne wouldn’t have used drugs and fallen from a balcony if he was happier with his girlfriend. This is obviously such a problematic viewpoint on so many levels. Some people blamed her for leaving Argentina a few days before Liam Payne died. Loads of media outlets theorised over the reasons why she “fled” Buenos Aires. Kate has now clarified she went home to Florida to look after the rescue dog she shared with Liam.

There are even social media posts declaring that it’s strange for One Direction singers to not post statements about Kate Cassidy after Liam Payne died.

Kate wore a black dress, a long coat and dark glasses to Liam Payne’s funeral in November. But so many trolls criticised her outfit for being too fashionable for a funeral (?) and debated whether she’d had Botox which affected her ability to cry (???).

There are plenty of people calling out social media users who are overly critical of Kate Cassidy, thank goodness. Someone tweeted, “Wild how people villainize Kate Cassidy, meanwhile when Liam died, people were demanding her to speak out. Damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t.”

Another person wrote on X: “Why the f*ck is everyone hating on Kate Cassidy for doing an interview… get a grip. ‘People don’t grieve like this’, are you serious???? Everyone grieves differently.”

Someone else wrote: “This is so sad. I can’t imagine losing my boyfriend in such a terrible way and in such a public way, where deranged parasocial fans keep blaming me for his death. Kate Cassidy is so strong.”