Zayn Malik Calls Out Racism From One Direction Days
Zayn also shared the track's lyrics to his Instagram story, and it wasn't long before fans noticed one standout line that referenced the racism he experienced during his One Direction days.
For context, One Direction was formed back in 2010 after solo artists Zayn, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne — who sadly died last year — were put together on The X Factor.
Of course, the boyband was absolutely huge, releasing five different albums — and going on four tours — in the space of five years. Zayn left the band in 2015 to embark on his solo career, and the rest of the group parted ways in 2016.
Zayn was the only non-white and Muslim member of the band; his father is of Pakistani descent. And sadly, the singer has faced some horrific racism over the years. Back in 2012, right-wing American blogger Debbie Schlussel released a disgusting post accusing Zayn of 'pimping Islam' to his young fans. 'Zayn Malik is pimping Islam on your kids. That's in addition to his Arabic tattoos and frequent donning of the keffiyeh, the official garb of Islamic terrorism,' she wrote in part.
The following year, American rapper Rucka Rucka Ali released a horrific track called 'Zayn Did 9/11,' which featured lyrics that blamed the singer for the tragic September 11 terrorist attacks.
In 2014, Zayn faced a heap of death threats for simply tweeting #FreePalestine. And in 2015, Bill Maher made a disgusting 'joke' comparing Zayn to the 2013 Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Zayn has also temporarily deleted his X (formerly Twitter) account due to horrific abuse over the years, and even directly addressed repeatedly being called a 'terrorist.'
With all this in mind, numerous internet users have praised Zayn for now speaking out about his experience in his soon-to-be-released song. 'im very proud of him for saying it as openly and bluntly as he did,' one person tweeted. 'Good on him for speaking out. He was called vile and abhorrent names and things said about him,' someone else echoed.
'Good for him! People were absolutely vile and nothing was ever said or done about it,' another person said, while one more added, 'I'm so glad he's speaking out through his music especially these days when racism against Asians/south asians is insane.'
Zayn hasn't yet revealed when his new song will be released; all we know is that it's 'coming soon.' Watch this space!
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"I hooked up with a woman in a bar, and we made out on the dance floor and in the car. She took me home, but her mother was there. It was a one-bedroom apartment. Her mom was in the bedroom, and when we sat on the sofa bed, her mom came out in her nightgown and reminded her that she still hadn't paid for her birth control prescription. She told me I reminded her of the sports guy on a local newscast and asked me if I had an older brother. She asked me if I was 'squeamish' about her being in the next room while I had sex with her daughter. I suddenly 'remembered' I had to get home to feed the cat and GTFO." "As we got going in the act, I felt a funny feeling in my belly, and then I proceeded to shart on the bed. I grabbed my clothes and ran like hell out the door, and never contacted him again." "I asked him to get some lube and he rummaged around in the bathroom and came back with NAIL POLISH REMOVER. I laughed so hard I nearly threw up and told him to go home." 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