The Daily Star has issued an apology to Niall Horan after posting false accusations of him using hard drugs.
The original article was posted last July and was titled “1D New Drugs Storm: Niall pictured with Breaking Bad-style pipe”. In the article, they wrote that Niall had been photographed with a “suspicious looking pipe” on Snapchat. Justin Bieber and Cody Simpson were also present in the photo. The Daily Star then went on to claim that the One Direction singer may have used hard drugs such as crystal meth or crack, which, understandably, upset Niall.
After the false story had been posted, Niall sued the newspaper for spreading defamatory rumors about him. The Daily Star responded by saying that the article didn’t bear the meaning alleged and asked London’s High Court to stop the action. In December, the judge dismissed the newspaper’s application, saying the article was capable of bearing the defamatory meaning claimed.
It seems like they have settled the issue now by having the Daily Star posting a public apology. In the apology, they write,
“We accept that the implication was not correct and that Mr Horan had not consumed any hard drugs. We apologise to him for any distress we may have caused.”
This isn’t the first time a One Direction member has had to take legal action against newspapers. Every day, numerous false stories surrounding the band are being posted. Many of them are defamatory and could ruin their reputations. Harry Styles has sued several newspapers for spreading false, vicious rumors about him. Last week, the Daily Star also issued a public apology to Harry, where they admitted they that their story about him was untrue.
Although it’s positive to see that the truth is coming out, it is important to know that it wouldn’t have happened if Niall and Harry hadn’t sued the newspaper. This shows that readers shouldn’t trust news sources blindly, especially when their claims come from “anonymous sources”. With stories like this, we should remember not to form opinions on celebrities solely based off what’s portrayed in the media, because many of their stories are written to create negative gossip.
Last year, it seemed as if most newspapers had agreed to write slander about Louis Tomlinson. Each week, a new outrageous story was posted about the singer. Although the general public seemed to eat it up, fans were quick to find out the truth. Every time an article was posted about Louis, it was based on “eyewitness rumors” and “anonymous sources”. All of the articles accused him of either being a drug addict, out of control, or a womanizer. Of course, all of these accusations were false, and both the fans and the newspapers knew it, but nobody has ever publicly apologized.
We hope that these apologies are going to scare other news outlets to not post any fabricated stories. There will probably always be false stories, but hopefully, more celebrities will start to take legal action against those media outlets who choose to write the fake stories.
Remember, if you’re ever confused about who the One Directions boys really are, look at their actions and ignore gossip articles about them.
Are you happy that the Daily Star has apologized to Niall? Leave a comment below or send us a tweet @CelebMix1D.