London: Simon Cowell, who recently sacked Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger from US ‘X Factor’ in a major shake-up, has rubbished reports that he offered Beyonce USD 100 million for the show.
The former American Idol judge denied approaching Beyonce and Mariah Carey for the vacant posts, the Daily Mail reported.
“No. I have no idea where this rumour came from. I read it online that I’d offered her USD 100 million a year. It’s complete nonsense.
“The budget of the show is USD 100 million. No one is going to pay USD 100 million a year for someone…It would never ever, ever, happen. It’s absolute nonsense. And I genuinely haven’t had a conversation with her about it. I swear to God. No,” he said during an appearance on TV show Extra. He also denied reports that Carey was another contender for the judges post.
“She’s not on the list because I don’t think Mariah would make that commitment,” he added. Cowell said he was forced to remove the two judges from the fledging singing reality show because Fox network executives told him “at the beginning of the year” to improve show’s ratings. The 52-year-old said he did not want to fire Abdul and Scherzinger but was forced to.
“It was fairly straight what they wanted. We were told it had to happen straight away. She (Abdul) was fine. I called her that night. She was very gracious and I said that to her. She understands it’s business. It’s never personal. I would have liked to have kept her,” Cowell said. The TV mogul said Scherzinger was “disappointed.”
Show host Steve Jones, who was brought over from the UK to host the US version of the show, was also sacked but Cowell did not talk about his removal. (PTI)
