Simon Cowell responds to claims that Little Mix were told to ‘flirt’ with industry figures

Simon Cowell has responded to claims that Little Mix were told to “flirt” with influential industry figures in the US, in order to get their music played on the radio.

Over the weekend, it was reported that the music mogul had parted ways with the girl group after a falling out with their reps Modest Management – amid a row over a songwriting credit on their single Woman Like Me.

Speaking to The Sun, Simon admitted: “It was just embarrassing but, funnily enough, I was more annoyed, again, not about me, but about the fact people who had worked so hard in my company were being misrepresented.

“Why do artists think they’re more important than staff members? They’re not. They’re the same.”

“The irony was the record they were arguing about, which is Woman Like Me, they didn’t want to record. This was one of those ironic times that we were having a hit and nobody was happy.”

Simon explained, “It wasn’t down to money. Basically, they said we’d done a terrible job. I had agreed not to talk about this publicly because I thought it was a private matter. I said, ‘We can’t work with the management, it’s as simple as that’.”

“Everyone’s like, ‘There must have been something massive and that’s why it collapsed’. Well, I can show you all the correspondence between me and the girls over the years, there’s never been an instance when we’ve fallen out.

“As I said in my email to them, I stand by the fact they are the hardest working bunch of girls I’ve ever worked with. They deserve everything they’ve got.”

In an interview released today with ASOS magazine, Little Mix claimed that their record label encouraged them to “flirt” with “important men” at a radio event in America.

Little Mix are signed by Columbia Records in US, but they didn’t specify who asked them to flirt.

In response to their revelation, Simon said, “If we’d have known about that at the time, whoever said that, he or she would have been fired.”

While on the topic, Simon addressed the #MeToo movement, and how he’s always had a “clear conscience” when it comes to that.

He said: “Look, no one’s more in the spotlight than me. And when the whole thing happened, I’ve always had a clear conscience about that. I understand the moral code here.”

“I suppose I get frustrated. People can read whatever they like. I do let myself be a bit of a sponge where you get beaten up. With this story, if you hadn’t called, I wouldn’t have said a word.

“All you can do is be transparent. I’ve never hidden anything from you guys, ever.”