Simon Cowell has been slammed as “the worst” after sharing his major regret about One Direction.
The 64 year old music tycoon, who was pivotal in the rise of the lads during their X Factor days and later signed them to his label Syco, has seen the group sell a whopping 70 million records globally, thanks to their charm and catchy tunes.
However, despite being a key player in their success, Simon dropped a bombshell four years after Nicole Scherzinger put the boys together on the hit talent show. Following Zayn Malik’s exit and the band’s decision to take a break, Simon has made a candid confession that he believes the band won’t reunite.
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On the Diary of a CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett, Simon didn’t mince his words, expressing his one big regret: “One thing I regret, is, I should have kept the name. I should have owned the name.”
(Image: PA)
He confirmed that the members of One Direction own the name, lamenting, “That’s the problem, could have made an animation or whatever but when you give an artist the name, it’s not yours and that’s my only regret.”, reports the Mirror.
“So if you’re listening, I’ll buy it back from you. But that’s the only thing I do regret. If one of the band members, for whatever reason say they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others touring, so if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
(Image: The Diary Of A Ceo/Youtube)
After these remarks came out, Simon got heat. Ashton Irwin, the drummer from 5 Seconds of Summer who has toured with One Direction and is listed as director of his own firm, 5SOS LLP, chastised Cowell on social media. Speaking out to his audience of 5.9 million followers, Irwin stated: “The worst.”
“This man, and this single statement, embodies everything wrong with the music [and entertainment] industry,” one follower vented, while another chimed in with: “Well damn it a good thing they owned the name then.”
(Image: GC Images)
Yet some remained defensive of Cowell, remarking he’s just a businessman making strategic moves. Cowell hinted before at disputes between him and certain One Direction members, mentioning Harry, Louis and Niall were “incredibly loyal” even after Liam Payne broke ties and signed a separate record deal. P
ayne has also publicly shared about their time together, touching on how the boys may have been pushed too hard. Liam Payne has opened up about his time with One Direction, admitting: “We [One Direction] were definitely overworked.
“I had no personal life, I learnt nothing about myself. I just lived so long as this reclusive pop star who was afraid of people, who just stayed inside all the time. I needed to stop, definitely. It would have killed me.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
