Kate Cassidy, the former girlfriend of late One Direction star Liam Payne, has faced criticism after sharing her Halloween outfit on Instagram. The 26-year-old posted a picture of herself in a black leotard covered in blood, which some followers deemed disrespectful to Payne, who died in October 2024.
Backlash over Halloween post
Payne, originally from Wolverhampton, died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina. His medical cause of death was confirmed as polytrauma with internal and external hemorrhage. Cassidy had returned to the United States just days before the incident.
In her initial Instagram post, Cassidy captioned the image: “and she died of a broken heart” with a broken heart emoji. She later removed the post and reuploaded the images with the caption ‘BLOODY MARY’.
Fans react to the costume
One follower wrote: “This is honestly horrifying when you consider how Liam lost his life.” A second said: “So disrespectful to Liam this is discusting.” Another fan pointed out: “This next to the pic of Liam on your grid is really insenstive.”
A fourth added: “Wow. This is distasteful beyond any level of marking just how distasteful it is. Talk about going from grieving someone you ‘loved’ and ‘adored’ to making a sick video with vile background music and trying to make it look sexual ~ no girl…. NO”
Support for Cassidy
However, some came to Cassidy's defence. One person wrote: “So because her boyfriend passed away she’s not allowed to dress up for Halloween ? Pls everyone relax. I would imagine he’d be annoyed at these comments.”
The incident has sparked debate online about grief and public behaviour, with reactions divided between those who feel the costume was insensitive and those who argue Cassidy should be free to celebrate Halloween.
