As the world continues to mourn the loss of much loved singer Liam Payne, an executive producer at TMZ has defended the decision for the news outlet to publish photos online that showed the star’s body immediately after he had fallen over 40ft from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Shortly after the news broke on Wednesday evening that the former One Direction singer had sadly died, TMZ came under widespread fire for its decision to share photos of the scene of the incident, in which a part of Liam’s lifeless body was shown on a wooden deck.Fans were furious with the outlet for the lack of respect, when it shared a picture of parts of his body after his death. UK TV presenter celeb Rylan Clark took to Twitter to write: “And TMZ f**king shame on you. Disgrace.” Another user said: “TMZ posting part of a photo of Liam Payne’s dead body in an article announcing his death is beyond deplorable. I can’t tell if I’m losing my mind lately or if society has always been this overtly morally decrepit.”

TMZ Executive Producer Michael Babcock defended the use of the images ( Image: Fox 5 New York/ Youtube)

Meanwhile singer Alessia Cara wrote: “you’re gross @TMZ,” and another fan commented: “I know we complain about TMZ a lot but they really surprise me every time at how insensitive they can be.”

However, despite the criticism, on Thursday, October 17, TMZ executive producer Michael Babcock defended the decision to use the images while appearing on Fox 5 New York.

He said: “There’s a balance, and that’s obviously a conversation that newsrooms across the world have – you want to be sensitive to the family and to the friends and also while working a news story.

Liam Payne sadly lost his life after falling from a balcony in Argentina

“When the information was coming in, police had not yet confirmed that it was Liam, so what was done on the TMZ website, there was an image – did not show the full image, didn’t show his face – but that showed his arm and his abdomen, where he has some very recognisable tattoos, so that’s sort of used as a way to confirm, or to match up the tattoos at a point where police had not yet confirmed his identity. And then, once they did, obviously, that photo was removed.

“I mean, it’s just a terribly horrific and sad story. It’s something obviously that shouldn’t have happened, and this guy had so much life left to live and you feel horrible for everybody.”Fans were, however, unmoved by the justification, with one writing in the YouTube comments of the video clip: “Are they really still trying to justify putting pictures of a dead body on their website?”

“TMZ is disgraceful and disgusting and have no respect whatsoever and didn’t even bother to apologise for posting those horrendous pictures!!! Will never watch them again!!” another said.”[It’s] not TMZ’s job to ‘identify’ the body,” a third said. “That is the job of the police/coroner to confirm. Revolting way to justify.”

Liam first shot to fame with One Direction

Meanwhile a fourth fan argued: “The real issue is who from the staff at the hotel or medical team sold the original image.None of the public had access to that specific view point at that time. Snapping that picture on your phone and selling it is grossly immoral.”

Liam Payne, a former member of boy band One Direction which dominated the charts throughout the 2010s, first shot to fame on The X-Factor before going on to launch a successful music career with the band. Following their decision to part ways in 2016, Liam later went on to launch a solo career with his debut album LP1, while also fathering a son with former X-factor judge Cheryl Cole.