The tour to promote One Direction’s new album “Four” has already begun.

However, despite the excitement surrounding the promotional tour, the absence of fellow One Direction member Zayn Malik seems to be overshadowing the real reason the band members are making an appearance on various shows.

One Direction made a promotional tour stop at Universal in Orlando, Florida when Matt Lauer of the “Today” show jumped right into asking why Zayn was absent from the interview.

“Liam, there’s obviously a lot of concern. A lot of fans have been tweeting overnight. There’s been a lot of action on social media about him. Is it something more serious than just a minor illness? There have been rumors of substance abuse, what’s going on?,” asked Lauer, according to Fox News.

The question may have been the biggest mistake in Matt Lauer’s career as loyal One Direction fans immediately starting booing him.

“No, he’s just got a stomach bug. He’s OK. He’s just at home. He just needs to rest,” replied Liam Payne.

Fans of the British boy band took to Twitter to further express their anger towards the TV host.

“Dang Matt Lauer, he asked One Direction about substance abuse right before the concert. Way to kill the buzz,” wrote Twitter user Amber Ferguson.

Fellow One Direction fan and social media user Libby Hale commented, “Leave it to Matt Lauer to spice up a One Direction album launch interview with inappropriate, rude leading questions.”

Zayn was reportedly also missing in the videos the band made to accept their recent awards from the MTV EMAs, according to Billboard.