Naughty Boy thought Zayn Malik was hacked when he sent him an angry tweet.

The former One Direction singer tweeted his friend and producer calling him a ''fat joke'' and Naughty Boy admitted once he found out it was real, he was quite upset.

He told Fuse.tv: ''I can deal with what he said but he knows the hate I've had to endure for him is the bit that upset me. That's not how I know Zayn to speak, even face to face. I definitely thought at first that he had been hacked.''

Zayn originally wrote: ''@NaughtyBoyMusic you fat joke stop pretending we're friends no one knows you.

''Someone learned how to upload a video... maybe now he should learn how to use logic ha you ain't s*** but a faker (sic).''

The messages were thought to refer to the snippet of a music video Zayn shot with Krept & Konan for his cover of 'No Type' which he reportedly believed Naughty Boy leaked.

Naughty Boy - whose real name is Shahid Khan - also hit out at Zayn for insulting his physique, saying he should know better because he has young fans.

He said: ''The fat joke thing wasn't necessary and he's getting a lot of backlash for that because a lot of his fans don't look like Selena Gomez. At some point as an artist you have to take responsibility for everything you say. That's why I think Zayn did it out of anger.''