The public loves it when Simon Cowell rolls his eyes at untalented singers on American Idol – but when Simon Cowell rolls his eyes at an American Idol contestant who has just given a tribute to the 32 students killed by Cho Seung-hui, not so much.
Simon Cowell has caused an outrage in America after a cutaway shot saw him apparently gesturing dismissively after American Idol contestant Chris Richardson gave a swift eulogy to the students murdered in the Virginia massacre. But Simon Cowell has publicly made it clear that he was only rolling his eyes because a) he thinks Chris Richardson is a terrible singer, and b) events in Virginia meant that he wasn't able to use the line "wow, you really massacred that tune" as he'd previously prepared to do.
Simon Cowell is no stranger to controversy – at one point he was receiving 500 death threats a week – but this week on American Idol Simon Cowell appeared to overstep the mark to such an alarming degree that he's had to publicly go out of his way to explain himself.
On Tuesday's edition of American Idol, Chris Richardson sang a version of some godawful country tune dreadfully enough for Simon Cowell to hand out another of his smugly stinging tongue-lashings. Following the criticism, Chris Richardson took time out to pay tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. And then Simon Cowell rolled his eyes. Look…
This Simon Cowell eye-roll has caused a discussion as to what Simon actually meant. Did Simon Cowell roll his eyes because he assumed Chris Richardson was trying to cover up his bad performance with an opportunistic shot at catching the prevailing public mood? Was Simon Cowell rolling his eyes because he thinks massacres are brilliant? Or was Simon Cowell rolling his eyes because Chris Richardson sang so abysmally that he was temporarily rendered deaf by the performance and missed the bit about the massacre?
Actually, it's the last one. So while Simon Cowell should have been celebrating his newly-recognised richness, he instead had to spend a whole lot of time digging himself out of the mess he'd apparently inadvertently got himself into. BBC News reports:
"I may not be the nicest person in the world, but I would never disrespect those families or victims," he said. Cowell… insists he was talking to fellow judge Paula Abdul about the performance when he made the face. Executive producer Ken Warwick said Cowell was "mortified" over the accusations. "He would be the biggest fool on television if he did that. And he's not a fool, believe me," Mr Warwick said. He said noise and the microphone set-up made it difficult for Cowell to hear Richardson after his song.
It's only natural, after an event as sudden and violent as the Virginia massacre, for the public to seek someone to blame. In the days and weeks to come, after the investigation into Cho Seung-hui's rampage has gained some ground, maybe a social or legislative culprit will be found. But at the moment it seems that the only person responsible for the Virginia Tech shooting was the nutter with the guns and the bad screenplay about the "prematurely ejaculating piece of dickshit." Which means that the target of public hatred following the shootings probably shouldn't be the smugly camp British guy with granny teeth and unfortunate taste in trousers who judges a weekly karaoke contest.
And Simon Cowell? Shame on you. Next time, just stick to what you're good at – being relentlessly rude about gay people and the mentally ill.
Read more:
Bette says
Reasonable arguments on hecklerspray? Whatever next…
Cameron says
Simon says:
“I was rolling my eyes in response to something Paula said and not cos of Chris’s eulogy to the worst school massacre in American history.”
TV says:
“Paula isn’t talking, at all. Her mouth is closed and she is looking at Chris, nodding appreciatively. Simon rolls eyes just as Chris mentions worst school massacre in American history.”