One Direction made its first television appearance in the U.S. after the surprise departure of Zayn Malik last night (May 15) on The Late Late Show with James Corden, and nothing was off topic. During the band's 20-minute time on screen, 1D addressed the fan-picked single "No Control," Harry Styles' extensive tattooing and, of course, the big Twitter feud between Malik, his producer Naughty Boy and remaining One Direction member Louis Tomlinson.
One Direction and James Corden got the Zayn drama out of the way right at the top of the show, with the new talk show host asking Tomlinson directly if he'd had any contact with his former bandmate.
"Yeah, there's been a bit of back and forth," Tomlinson joked about the Twitter conversations he'd been having with Malik and Naught Boy before revealing finally. "We're on good terms with him."
"I've never been good at biting me tongue. Maybe I get it from my mum. It's just one of those things - Twitter's great for connecting with the fans but also if you feel like saying something that you probably shouldn't, it's good for that. Or, it's bad, in this case," he said.
Twitter spats aside, One Direction finally opened up exactly how they felt when Malik announced he was quitting the band, revealing they were angry, disappointed, surprised and hurt before coming to peace with his decision.
"At first, we were a little bit angry; we were surprised. But I think we all kind of knew the general vibe that Zayn was feeling. You could tell, even from the outside people could tell," Liam Payne said. "There were certain parts of this job that Zayn loved and certain parts he didn't. If you don't love your job, you've got to follow your heart sometimes and go where you need to go."
One Direction wasn't just on hand to talk shop on The Late Late Show, they were also there to play some dodgeball, in a sports bootcamp sketch you just have to watch to believe.
And, dang, those are some short shorts!
