Simon Cowell has denied he rolled his eyes when an ‘American Idol’
contestant paid tribute to the Virginia Tech massacre victims.
The judge was caught on camera making a face at fellow judge Paula Abdul
when contestant Chris Richardson interrupted Simon’s critique of his
“nasal-y” singing to pay tribute to those killed in the horrific campus
shooting, in which 33 people died.
Simon told ‘American Idol’ host Ryan Seacrest on his radio show: “We must
address this crazy story that appeared that I rolled my eyes disrespectfully
at Chris because he made the comment.
“The truth is that I had switched off at that point. I was saying to Paula,
‘What does he mean he was singing nasal-y on purpose?’ I didn’t understand
what he was saying.
“So I hadn’t even heard what he’d said afterwards. And my eye rolling is
what I was saying to Paula. I have never heard so much rubbish.
“You know what, half of the time I can’t hear what they are saying, and I
don’t think they can hear what I am saying.”
Richardson had defended his performance, before he said: “My heart and
prayers go out to Virginia Tech. I have a lot of friends over there. Be
strong.”
The camera then cut to Simon’s seemingly insensitive look.
The British music mogul has now commended Richardson for his comments.
He said: “Chris was right to have said what he said because he is from that
neck of the woods and if I would have heard what he said I would have
responded properly to that.
“The irony was that we discussed this before the show and wondered, ‘What do
you do in a situation like this when something terrible happens? Do you
ignore it?’
“Ryan Seacrest wanted to say something in the beginning, which I think was
right. And I thought we should do something at the end to sort of close it.
I wanted to say to the kids it was a difficult week for everybody.”
Ryan added: “Let’s just be honest, no human being would be that
disrespectful to anybody involved in that awful tragedy.”
