Louis Tomlinson has broken his silence on his public feud with BBC Breakfast’s Dan Walker (Image: Redferns)

Louis Tomlinson has spoken out about his explosive five-year feud with BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker. Back in 2020, the former One Direction star sat down with the Strictly star and his co-host Louise Minchin to promote his debut album, Walls. During the interview, the pair quizzed the singer about his mother’s and sister’s deaths, despite informing the presenters beforehand not to discuss them on the show.

Now, in an interview with Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett, the dad-of-one has spoken out about the interview for the first time in five years. During an appearance on the businessman’s podcast, The Diary of a CEO, he reflected on the uncomfortable BBC segment.

He boycotted the BBC show after Dan Walker quizzed him about his mother’s and sister’s deaths (Image: Instagram)

He recalled: “I remember going on to BBC Breakfast News and it’s one of those things, it’s a f**ing early morning slot, not even the presenters want to be there, never mind me at that time. I’m going on to talk about Two of Us, the single.

“We distinctly said these are the things that are okay to mention, and do not mention these things. But I actually had a journalist at the time who asked me directly about those things, and I knew that we’d said don’t.”

The podcast then cut to a clip from the TV interview where Dan asked Louis about the deaths of his family members. Returning to the interview, he explained the off-limit topics he allegedly sent over to the BBC beforehand.

He went on: “Sometimes on that list we might have, ‘Don’t speak about One Direction’, but this is not what I’ve got a problem with. [My problem is] when someone has their own grief, and you’re still going to ask those kinds of questions, I find that really, really troubling.

“I think what was interesting was I left the interview, and I used to be good at this when I was a bit younger, but I took to Twitter, and I was like, ‘I’m never f***ing working with the BBC again’.

The musician insists that the presenter “hadn’t experienced grief” at the time of the interview (Image: PR Handout)

“And he came back at me this journalist, he said, ‘Well, if you write a song about grief, expect to be asked about it’. And my instinctive reaction was, ‘There’s somebody who hasn’t experienced grief.’

“They couldn’t possibly have because if they had, they wouldn’t make such a horrible, horrible comment that just lacks all kinds of empathy.” At the time, Dan Walker issued an apology to the musician on Twitter, stating: “Sorry you feel like that. It was nice to speak to you on #BBCBreakfast this morning.”

Dan Walker has yet to respond to the comments made by Louis Tomlinson about his comments on the podcast. It didn’t take long before viewers flocked to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share their thoughts on the public feud online.

One user penned: “I watched the whole podcast, and I liked Louis even more; he seemed like a genuine and honest guy who has been through a lot,” as another added: “It was too fresh and Louis specifically asked not to ask about it. It should have been respected.”

Meanwhile, others sided with the presenter, as one argued: “I get everyone has their own way of dealing with grief, but if the artist is writing about these types of subjects, about loss and grief, what else is the interviewer supposed to ask about?” Another agreed: “If you watch the interview with Dan Walker talking about his friend Gary Speed, I think you’ll find he’s defo experienced grief.”