Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English reality television judge, entrepreneur, philanthropist, film, record, and television producer. He is most recognized as a judge on the British TV talent competition series Pop Idol, The X Factor, and Britain's Got Talent, and the American TV talent competition shows American Idol, The X Factor, and America's Got Talent. Cowell owns the television production and music publishing house Syco...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth7 October 1959
CityLondon, England
Anything I shouldn't laugh at makes me laugh. I mean, I'm bad at that, when somebody is singing something terribly and I'm thinking to myself, 'If I laugh now, this is the absolute worst thing I could ever do,' and then I start laughing and I can't stop.
It's not our intention to be mean. That's just within us.
I don't mind competition at all. I mean, the record business is the most competitive business in the world, probably. So I'm used to that. In a weird way, it kind of makes you work harder.
I think you have to judge everything based on your personal taste. And if that means being critical, so be it. I hate political correctness. I absolutely loathe it.
The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated. Kids turn up unrehearsed, wearing the wrong clothes, singing out of tune and you can either say, "Good job" and patronize them or tell them the truth, and sometimes the truth is perceived as mean.
They all hate each other deep down, but they're not gonna say it on camera. Ask Kelly how many congratulation e-mails she got from the other contestants. Probably zero. But that's the music business. In a positive way, I like that. I like the fact that people enter the show because they might win.
Personally, I hope to find the next Siegfried and Roy.
Everything's open this year, isn't it? There are four, five, six people who could win.
The Super Bowl's a good analogy. You've got to make people look forward to it once a year.
Ryan, with respect, I do this for a living. I don't play at it like you.
Complete and utter mess. It was 'We Will Rock You, Gently'.
Creed would not be caught dead on this show. You've got to start showing, at this point, another side. You can't keep doing this week after week after week.
We don't want to spread any rumors here.
To me, it was absolutely crystal clear at this stage last year that Carrie Underwood would win the competition. So it all felt a bit obvious. Whereas this year, I could argue the case for seven or eight of the contestants. I genuinely don't know who's gonna win. I've got a feeling who are gonna make the finals. But once you're in the finals, I think you're gonna have the most open competition you've ever seen, which for us and the viewers at home, that's a good thing.