One Direction may be one of the biggest pop acts in the world nowadays but, as is often the case when a group achieves massive success, there can sometimes be a more sinister, flip-side to that coin.
Zayn Malik, one of the five members of One Direction, has become the target of hate groups on Twitter following the murder of a serving member of the UK army last week in Woolwich. Malik, a Muslim, received waves of religious and racist abuse - so much so that his mother has taken to defending him.
Tricia Malik has signed up to Twitter and has sent a few tweets defending her son. "Hope you're happy now Zayn noticed your tweet. You can't even imagine how upset it made him, you psycho", she wrote to one particularly abuseful Twitter user.
The Malik's will be hoping that the unwanted attention dies down before travelling to North America next month on tour, before going down under to bring One Diretion mania to Australia and New Zealand...but if Zayn is like any other person his age, he won't be thanking his mother for getting involved.
