Nick Jonas Jokes About One Direction Split At Kids' Choice Awards 2015

Nick Jonas is well aware of the pain Directioners are feeling right now. The "Jealous" singer and Kids' Choice Awards host joked about Zayn Malik's departure from One Direction during his opening monologue Saturday night. Malik announced he was quitting the band March 24, just over a week after leaving their current world tour due to stress.

Jonas commmented on the 22-year-old leaving the band, saying, "what's next? 4th Harmony? 3 Seconds of Summer? No, no. The Jonas Brother?" Although his joke received plenty of laughs from the audience, Twitter users had mixed reviews. Many heartbroken Directioners felt it was too soon to laugh just yet, while fans of the other bands mentioned wanted to pretend it never happened.

Malik released a statement announcing his departure from the band March 24. The former pop sensation claimed he was tired of living life in the public eye and hoped to live a more "normal" life post-One Direction. He later conducted an interview with The Sun where he revealed he was worried he'd let fans down, but ultimately felt quitting was the right thing to do.

“You know, I did try and do something that I wasn’t happy doing for a while, for the sake of maybe other people,” he said.

It was widely believed that Malik planned to branch off from the group to pursue a solo career. These rumors have been supported by comments he made during his interview with The Sun. The U.K.-native told the paper he would be using his time out of the limelight to "write and relax and chill," adding that he planned to hit the studio the following day.

Shortly after the announcement, Malik and the band were the subject of multiple trending topics on Twitter. Thousands of fans took to the social media site to express their sadness and frustration with some lashing out at the singer. Some even directed their anger toward Malik's fiancée, Perrie Edwards, whom many were calling the new Yoko Ono. Still, he maintains his relationship had nothing to do with his leaving One Direction. After seeing the outpouring of hateful messages, 1D fan-fiction writer Anna Todd intervened. The 25-year-old pleaded with fellow fans to try to understand that Malik is going through something and "would never purposely let anyone down."

Members of the band have not yet addressed Jonas' comment. For Kids’ Choice live stream information click HERE. Check out the full nominees list HERE.