Liam Payne is taking to Twitter to defend his One Direction bandmates, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, after a video leaked of them smoking marijuana on their way to their concert in Lima, Peru earlier this week.

Payne called out a Daily Mail reporter for inaccuracies in his article, then chalked up the controversy to being young and naïve.

“I love my boys and maybe things have gone a little sideways I apologise for that.We are only in our 20's we all do stupid things at this age,” he first tweeted. “We all have a lot of growing up to do in an extreme circumstance I'm not making excuse but it's fact we are gunna fall short somewhere.”

Payne continued, “Hopefully we stand the test of time an get it right in the end I don't take this for granted and im extremely grateful to be here doing this. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with us through this just know that we love you guys for it and it means the world.”

Neither Tomlinson or Malik have spoken publicly about the video, which features them smoking and joking around about their security detail smelling the “illegal substance,” but a rep for the band would only say “This matter is in the hands of our lawyers."

image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com