Zayn Malik steps up beef with producer Naughty Boy

Former One Direction member, Zayn Mailk. Photo / Getty Images

Zayn Malik has blasted his friend and producer Naughty Boy, calling him a "fat joke".

The former One Direction star posted a tweet saying that the La La La hitmaker is not his friend and that he should "stop pretending" they are pals because "no one knows" who he is.

The 22-year-old singer tweeted: "@NaughtyBoyMusic you fat joke stop pretending we're friends no one knows you (sic).

@NaughtyBoyMusic you fat joke stop pretending we're friends no one knows you .

— zayn (@zaynmalik) July 13, 2015

Someone learned how to upload a video... maybe now he should learn how to use logic ha you ain't shit but a faker

— zayn (@zaynmalik) July 13, 2015

"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)."

Naughty Boy - whose real name is Shahid Khan - is yet to respond to the direct tweet, which is thought to refer to the leaked snippet of a music video Zayn shot with Krept & Konan for his cover of No Type.

However, the producer did tweet a cryptic post, which read: "don't feed the hand that bites you (sic)."

don't feed the hand that bites you

— Naughty Boy (@NaughtyBoyMusic) July 12, 2015

Both Naughty Boy and Zayn have now un-followed each other on the social media channel.

The former 1D hitmaker previously defended the producer when he got into a Twitter spat with Louis Tomlinson.

Following an exchange of insults between his ex-bandmate and Naughty Boy, Zayn asked Louis: "remember when you had a life and stopped making b****y comments about mine ?'(sic)"

- Bang! Showbiz