Over 60,000 people have signed a petition to change mental health laws in the music industry after Liam Payne died.
Last week (16 Oct), Liam Payne tragically passed away at the age of 31. The One Direction singer fell from the third-floor balcony of the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the wake of his death, many of Liam’s friends and family have paid tribute to him including his bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn.
Celebrities including Cheryl, Bruce Springsteen, Rebecca Ferguson and Robbie Williams have also taken to social media to criticise the media and the music industry. Now, Liam’s fans have setup a petition to introduce laws in the industry that safeguard the meant health of artists.
On 18th October, a Liam fan called Day Kv set up a Change.org petition titled: “Enact Legislation to Safeguard Artists’ Mental Health in the Entertainment Industry“. They then wrote: “In recent news of Liam Payne’s tragic death as many others, the entertainment industry needs to be held accountable and be responsible to the welfare of their artists.”
Explaining her aims, Day added: “We seek to implore lawmakers to create legislation safeguarding the mental health of artists within the industry. Such a law would necessitate regular mental health check-ups, adequate rest periods, and the presence of mental health professionals on-set, including any ongoing support during their career.”
They ended by writing: “Your signature could be a lifeline for these talented individuals, contributing to a larger movement of mental health awareness and care in industries worldwide. Please, sign the petition.”
Day has suggested calling the law ‘Liam’s Law’ and, as it stands, over 60,000 people have signed the petition.
Throughout his life, Liam spoke candidly about the negative effects of fame and his own mental health struggles. In his 2019 show Ant Middleton And Liam Payne: Straight Talking, Liam said: “For some certain circumstances – I’m quite lucky to be here still, which is something I’ve never really shared with anyone.”
Opening up further, Liam said: “There’s times where that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day. Just every so often, you’re like, when will this end? That’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times.”
