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L.A. Reid is the Mean One Now

On American Idol, Simon Cowell used to be the harshest critic. He shattered so many dreams and left so many people broken that he should have been given an award to honor his commitment to good TV.

That’s all changed on The X Factor though. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Antonio “L.A.” Reid is ten times meaner than Cowell. At the first round of audtions at USC’s Galen Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Reid laid into a contestant after debating which song to sing. It even prompted an exacerbated Paula Abdul to tell her, “I’d finish one. You’ve got 10 seconds, pick the song you want.” The fact that the entire audience booed and heckled her didn’t help either.

“When was the last time you performed? Eighteen years ago?” Reid asked. “Whatever made you stop then, you should’ve stuck with that decision.”
That was arguably harsher than Cowell’s take: “It’s very brave, and I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but you’re someone who should be singing at home.”

Before the show, Cowell encouraged the audience to express their opinion.

“The idea is we’re trying to find a superstar. … And you’re our fifth judge,” he said. “Basically you’re here to tell us who you like. You can be as badly behaved as you want, actually. The whole reason for doing this is I trust you guys for being able to judge this process. There’s $5 million at stake.”

Producers may have thought they took it too far and asked the audience to not boo. They want to temper negativity.

Honestly, no one wants to watch a show where contestants are coddled. People want blood. If they suck, they need to be told they suck. In fact, they should just install a trap door over a pit of sharks that the judges can activate. It’d give the show a little extra oomph.

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Chewy
Chewy
12 years ago

“You can be as badly behaved as you want, actually”…Welcome to America…