Liam Payne’s New Accent Baffles Viewers At Oscars 2022

Viewers have been left baffled by Liam Payne's accent as he spoke about the dramatic moment Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars.

The former One Direction singer spoke to Good Morning Britain where he was asked about the incident, which saw Smith slap Rock over a joke he made about wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

Smith stormed the stage after Rock compared Pinkett Smith to GI Jane, before slapping him and then returning to his seat where he shouted: "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth."

With the incident causing such a stir, Payne was asked to weigh in with his thoughts, where he revealed that the Smiths were actually his former neighbours.

Payne said: "Will Smith actually used to live behind my house, I've had the pleasure of knowing his son and his daughter very well.

"We did Men in Black III with him.

"I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do.

"I also felt there were three losers in one fight. He didn't know, being Chris Rock, he didn't want to do what he had to do, being Will Smith, and she did nothing, being Jada.

"And it was a very sad thing but there was a powerful moment for me, to sit and watch one of the world's best emoters, ever, speak from the heart.

"And I would rather take the beauty from the situation than the pain. But I had to leave my chair, I'll be honest with you. It cut me really deep."

However, his sentiments were lost to many who were too distracted by his unusual accent to pay attention to what he was saying.

Posting on Twitter, one person said: "I detect a bit of a French, Irish, American and English accent throughout this entire interview. What is going on?"

Another commented: "Everyone's ignoring the bigger scandal. Liam Payne has a whole new accent."

While a third said: "What is that accent he's putting on because it's actually embarrassing?"

A fourth joked: "When you have one too many pinot grigios and decide to speak in an accent all night."

Another person said: "Bit of Welsh, bit of Birmingham, bit of Indian and a bit of Home Counties? Bloody bizarre mixture."

Payne, 28, is from Wolverhampton and in past interviews his regional accent has been more noticeable than it was today.