Simon Cowell is responding to those who think he played a part in the untimely death of Liam Payne.

During a recent appearance on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast , Cowell was asked how he felt about people blaming him for Payne’s passing, claiming he put too much pressure on One Direction and failed to help them navigate fame .

“I don’t read any of this stuff because if I did, you would just torture yourself. The idea that you are essentially responsible for somebody’s life, 10 years after you’ve signed someone? You can’t do that,” Cowell said.

The “X Factor” creator, 66 — whose competition show launched Payne’s former band, One Direction, back in 2010 — fielded criticism from some people after Payne fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina last October with multiple drugs in

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