After harsh criticism, the entertainment site TMZ chose to unpublish pictures of the deceased One Direction member Liam Payne's body. TMZ had initially published pictures where Payne's waist and one arm were visible, which prompted, among others, Rylan Clark, a program host on BBC, to lash out:
"TMZ, you should be bloody ashamed", Clark wrote in a post on X.
In an interview with the American TV station Fox 5 New York, TMZ's site chief Michael Babcock is now defending the criticized picture publishing:
One wants to show sensitivity towards family and friends but also work with the news itself. But when the information came in, the police had not yet confirmed that it was Liam. What was done on TMZ's news site was that they showed his well-known tattoos, says Babcock, who thinks it was justified to publish the pictures – initially.
- As soon as the police had confirmed who he was, the pictures were removed. This is a terrible story. This guy had so much more to give.
