Is Netflix Cutting Down Liam Payne’s Scenes In Building The Band? (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Netflix is making major edits to Building The Band, scaling back Liam Payne’s screen time to prevent accusations of exploiting his tragic passing. While Payne played a key role as a guest judge on the show, insiders say his presence in the final cut will be far less than fans might expect.
Balancing Tribute & Sensitivity Amid Controversy Surrounding Liam Payne’s Death
The show’s executives are walking a fine line by keeping Liam Payne’s contributions intact and ensuring the series doesn’t appear to be capitalizing on his death. “The feeling among execs at Netflix is that they want to err on the side of caution, and if that means having Liam in the least amount of scenes possible then that’s the step they’re willing to take,” a source said.
“They want to strike the right balance between having him feature in the show, doing the thing he loved, with having him feature too much, which would be a lot for his loved ones to contend with,” they added, “Discussions are ongoing with Liam’s family, and their views are a crucial consideration for Netflix.
But fans may be surprised by how little he ends up featuring in the finished series,” insiders shared. “The one option they probably don’t have is to remove him entirely from the show, even if they wanted to, because he’s an intrinsic part of the process the boy bands go through on the series,” they said.
Nicole Scherzinger, Liam Payne, and Kelly Rowland will serve as judges in the new competition series Building the Band. Hosted by AJ McLean.
In this Love is Blind-style musical competition, singers form groups based solely on vocal chemistry before ever seeing each other. pic.twitter.com/r1AqI7D9wH
The Show Was Filmed Months Before Liam Payne’s Passing
Payne filmed his segments alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland in the UK months before his sudden death in Argentina. While Building The Band was initially seen as celebrating his legacy, Netflix is now under pressure to handle his involvement with extreme sensitivity. “They spoke with Liam’s family as they didn’t want to progress the project without taking their feelings into consideration,” an insider said.
“The family got the sense that this was a celebration of Liam, an image of positivity. He was doing what he did best as a true boyband star.” They added, “But they hadn’t given it a final stamp of approval and as far as they were concerned were still discussing what the show would look like. So they were surprised by the announcement.”
Meanwhile, Liam Payne’s name has been officially removed from One Direction’s business empire, and his personal property firm has seen a shocking $2 million drop in value. “It is worrying that there has been such a big drop in the value of his assets so soon after his death. It makes you wonder how things are being managed,” an insider told RadarOnline.
