Simon Cowell hasn’t been discreet about his disappointment in Britney Spears while working with her on The X Factor. He sat down with Ellen DeGeneres on her show and explained why he was so bummed with Brit. He was kind about it, though managed to get in an (unintentional?) dig at Christina Aguilera. Metro sums up how it went down.
‘How did that happen initially? Why did you go this will be right for the show?’ Ellen asked him.
‘I think if I’m being honest with you, Ellen, there was a time I think everyone was trying to up themselves in terms of who could find the biggest known star to be on a panel. And in terms of a pop singer? Jennifer Lopez and the other one on The Voice… I can’t remember. Blondie. Christina. And we said, ‘We’ll take Britney’. She was fine, but I think she found it very uncomfortable.’
When Ellen chipped in to say Britney wasn’t a very good ‘talker’, he sarcastically replied: ‘I didn’t realise that!’, then added: ‘I kind of booked someone who couldn’t talk, which is a bit of a problem when you want someone to judge.
‘She wasn’t comfortable being negative, she didn’t like it when the contestants spoke back to her, so she was just uncomfortable. I liked her. So we decided to change it this year.’
Oh Simon. He can’t even bring himself to say the words, “American Idol.” And also, love how he says, “We’ll take Britney,” like she’s a sandwich at a deli.
Idea: the Britney Spears sandwich. I’m thinking fried chicken and fried green tomatoes in between white bread that’s been spread with butter and sprinkled with a hearty layer of Cheeto dust. And bacon. And I would eat it.