Simon Cowell slammed by X-Factor star for prioritising 'profit over people' after Liam Payne's death

Simon Cowell, who co-created and first signed One Direction, is speaking out following the death of band member Liam Payne at age 31. One Direction was created on Cowell's reality show, The X-Factor, in 2010. Together with Nicole Scherzinger, Cowell selected Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik for a boy band that ended up finishing third in the competition. Cowell then signed them to his label Syco Records where they went on to sell over 70 million records.

Simon Cowell says he's "devastated" and "heartbroken" over the death of former One Direction star Liam Payne.