Zayn Malik Won the American Music Award for New Artist of the Year and Shaded One Direction

This one hurts.

Zayn Malik just couldn't let a good joke go by as a wasted opportunity. 

It should have been a shining moment for the singer. He's attending his first American Music Awards as a solo artist. He was nominated for an AMA for the first time as a solo artist. He was #blessed enough to sit in the audience and watch his girlfriend, Gigi Hadid, kill it during her first time hosting the AMAs. 

And then, to top it all off, he actually won the award for Best New Artist of the Year. We typically call that firing on all cylinders. 

But, then, he stepped up onto the stage and just had to let out a zinger. As he looked at the shiny statue in his hand, Zayn opened with "Wow. This just has my name on it, right?"

Yes, that is a total dig right to his former band One Direction. And yes, it stings a lot. 

Although, it might be Zayn himself that's feeling the consequences of the joke the most, as it seems it fell totally flat. Either nobody in the audience caught the thinly-veiled reference to the split-up group or they didn't think it was funny at all. 

But never mind, because Zayn will keep soldiering on! "I can't thank the people that have been with me every day the past year enough," he continued. "Standing here is crazy. My mom, my dad, everybody in my family that's been supporting me the past year, especially my dad. Thank you, Dad. Also, big thank you to you guys. I didn't expect anybody to still vote for me. So thank you, and I"ll put it on my fireplace." 

And it seems that one Gigi Hadid wasn't bothered by the zinger, because she caught up with her boyfriend backstage for a passionate embrace to celebrate his big win. So it seems like Zayn gets the last laugh, even if nobody else did at all.