One Direction's Zayn Malik left 'angry and upset' by drug abuse comment made by US TV show host

The One Direction star missed an appearance on The Today Show due to illness

Zayn Malik said he planned to join the rest of the band once he was feeling better (Getty)

Zayn Malik has criticised an American TV show host who suggested he was a drug user, saying he is “really angry and upset” by the comment.

The One Direction band member was absent from a Today Show concert on Monday with a stomach bug – but host Matt Lauer asked if it was “something more serious”.

He asked the other four singers: “Is it something more serious than just a minor illness? There have been rumours of substance abuse – what’s going on?”

To which Liam Payne replied: “No he’s just got a stomach bug, he’s okay. He’s just at home. He just needs to rest.”

Fellow band members Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan looked similarly unimpressed by Lauer’s question, with Horan shaking his head.

Last night Malik told The Sun: “I’m really angry and upset by what was said on The Today Show. I was really ill at the weekend, that’s why I couldn’t fly to America.”

He added that he was “gutted” to be unable to attend and planned to re-join the rest of the band once he was feeling better.

The event took place at the Universal Resort in Orlando, Florida, to mark the release day of One Direction’s latest album, Four.

Lauer asked the controversial question in front of thousands of fans.

His comment may have been provoked by a video that emerged in May, which allegedly showed Malik and Tomlinson smoking a joint while travelling in Peru. The footage is thought to have been stolen from the band, before it was leaked to the Daily Mail.

However, the Sun quoted a source who said there was a vast difference between that alleged incident and Lauer’s insinuation.

“[Malik] is utterly shocked. Sure he might have smoked a bit of dope in the past, but substance abuse is a completely different thing.”