"I just want to be your friend!"
Katy Perry may have confused Niall Horan's efforts at sparking a friendship for flirting.
While on the Australian morning radio show Fitzy & Wippa on Nova 96.9 FM, Perry seemed to imply that the One Direction member may have a crush on her. "Niall's amazing, I love him, and I think we feel very connected in a way because I, like, helped him get through The X Factor to join his group," she said on Wednesday. "He's become a big star and I'm like, 'Cool, I guess that means I have taste?' I don't know what that means."
The 32-year-old pop star then added, "I see [Niall] around all the time. He's always trying to like, get my number, to like, maybe flirt with me but I'm like, 'I could babysit you. I'm like your mom!'"
It wasn't long before Horan caught wind of Perry's comments and was asked while on Australia's The Project TV show on Thursday what he thought of the flirting allegations. "Katy, please stop being mean to me," the 23-year-old singer joked. "She's just finding any excuse now to just patronize me and go around spreading rumors about me. I just want to be your friend!"
As for their nine-year age difference, Horan noted, "I mean, she is talking like she is about 55 years older than me. She is not that much older than me."
Years before signing on to be a judge on the upcoming American Idol reboot, Perry was a guest judge on the U.K.'s X Factor in 2010, when Horan auditioned as a solo singer at 16. Cheryl Cole, who is currently in a relationship with Horan's boy bandmate, Liam Payne, was the only one of the four judges to vote in favor of him. He was later placed in a group that ultimately became One Direction.
In addition to her comments about Horan, Perry has also recently made some candid remarks about other men in her past. The "Swish Swish" singer recently ranked how her exes -- including Orlando Bloom, John Mayer, Russell Brand and Diplo -- were in the bedroom during an interview with Late Late Show host James Corden. Check it out:
