Simon Cowell Replaced Cheryl Cole For Her Own Good

According to Simon Cowell, it was an act of benevolence when he replaced Cheryl Cole with Nicole Scherzinger on X Factor. Cowell says he’s very sorry about embarrassing Cheryl but that she was out of her depth on the U.S. show. So they replaced her with a former Pussycat Doll that everyone forgot existed. To say sorry, producers offered her a $4 million contract to return to the UK version of the show.

“The feeling was that she was slightly out of her comfort zone in America,” he said. “The intention was to do it quietly and say to her she had an option to rejoin the UK show. … At the end of the day we were saying, ‘Move to another show for even more money’. There was an offer of around £2.5 million on the table including bonuses. How is that [firing] someone?”

Cole’s manager, Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, refused to return calls to discuss the option (probably because he’s a spiteful buffoon) and the offer was eventually withdrawn. Cowell then offered Cole another chance to return to the U.S. show and “heated conversations” with her lawyers and managers began. Apparently it was all too much trouble so they went with Scherzinger.

Cowell said, “I embarrassed her. … But the truth was I was protecting her. I just want people to be in the best place at the right time.”

Cowell told The Sun how he’d received a text message from Cole saying she felt let down about the U.S. show but understood it was a professional decision. He said: “I replied saying, ‘This was never personal or saying you were terrible.’ It wasn’t that she was terrible — she was good. I just thought she’d be happier in the U.K.”

I’m not sure what’s worse: dangling that carrot in front of Cheryl Cole twice or taking it away twice and kicking her while she’s down by telling her she’s not good enough for America. And then replacing her with Nicole Scherzinger. Jesus. That would kill anyone’s self-esteem. At this point, Cheryl Cole would bang you if you said her dress looks nice.