Liam Payne: I'm not homophobic

Liam Payne insists he is "in no way, shape or form" homophobic.

The One Direction star upset some people in the crowd when he introduced song Girl Almighty at a recent concert with bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan.

"This is my favourite song off the last album, and it is about trying to find that number one woman of your life, which none of you can relate to, 'cause most of you are girls. Except for the boys in here, you know what I'm talking about," he addressed the audience.

But the 21-year-old insists he meant no harm and simply didn't think before speaking.

"I am in no way shape or form homophobic that's a ridicules thing to say and I'm not here to offend people so take it as you will," he explained himself on Twitter.

"So annoying trying your hardest to make people happy in a show and you think about all the notes u tried to hit higher or a little sweeter

"And all some people want to concentrate on was a throw away statement about a song that I love (sic)"

While many fans supported the star on social media, others begged him not to "brush off" the issue of heteronormativity, while others still posted abusive messages.

But Liam tried to make light of the matter, asking his followers to consider times they had said something that came out wrong.

"Lol this is so insane the more I read I'm like wtf have u ever said something in the wrong way I'm sure every person here has lol," he wrote, before apologising to offended fans: "I'm sorry to those I offended really I am but there's no need for some of the things I'm being called (sic)"