(UPDATED with news of Malik’s apparent hospitalization.)
One Direction alum Zayn Malik has bowed out of his planned musical performance on this Tuesday’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, after being hospitalized for an undisclosed reason.
In an Instagram story posted Friday, Malik shared a photo of him in a hospital bed, saying it’d been “been a long week” and he was “still unexpectedly recovering.” All upcoming appearances, The Tonight Show included, were in turn cancelled.
Malik’s apparent hospitalization comes amid tabloid reports that he punched former 1D bandmate Louis Tomlinson on the set of their Netflix road trip docuseries.
It was announced in October that Malik and Tomlinson were filming a three-part series in which they travel across the U.S. in the wake of the October 2024 death of fellow former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne.
Production reportedly screeched to a halt six months ago, however, when Malik “started acting up” and “mouthing off,” the U.K.’s The Sun reported this weekend. According to the report, Malik allegedly made a remark about Tomlinson’s late mother, Johannah Deakin, who died of leukemia in December 2016 at age 43.
“It spiralled into a row,” according to The Sun. “Zayn punched him straight in the face,” and “because he was wearing rings, it cut Louis’ head.”
Director Nicola Marsh (Child Star), who was helming the Netflix docuseries, appeared to confirm the backstage brouhaha by sharing on Instagram The Sun’s front page from Saturday—“LOUIS PUNCHED BY ZAYN, Netflix show canned”—with the added commentary, “And there goes the last year of work.”
Malik’s Tonight Show booking, announced last Wednesday, would have marked his third appearance on the NBC program; he most recently guested in May 2024. To fill the gap, Jesse Tyler Ferguson has been added to Tuesday’s guest list, alongside comedian Nikki Glaser, Ella Stiller (The Comeback), and comedian Isabel Hagen.
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