Simon Cowell has broken his silence on Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne’s harsh comments about him on Celebrity Big Brother.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge has admitted he is still “good friends” with the former X Factor judges, despite the digs they’ve thrown at him.
The music mogul recently backed Amanda Holden amid her public bust-up with Sharon, but the 64-year-old has maintained he’s still great pals with her.
Simon told the Daily Mirror: “If you put Sharon and Louis in the house, that’s what you pay them for, they’re going to be controversial.”
“I still consider Sharon and Louis really good friends, we could pick up the phone to each other tomorrow.”
“I think that’s probably one of the things they’re upset about, because they can never get hold of me.”
“Amanda is a great friend, but I really do believe Sharon and Louis are great friends as well,” he continued.
“I don’t have a phone but from what I heard, what they said about me was actually quite funny.”
“And I probably will phone them both in the next week or so because I haven’t spoken to them for a while and it sounds like I should do,” he added.
While on CBB, Sharon revealed to Louis: “That’s Simon, he cuts you off, cuts you off, cuts you off. He doesn’t know how to keep friends.”
“Why do you think I am so f****g mad with Simon because remember that year you and I were contracted to do X Factor and it was the first year of The Masked Singer in America and they asked me to do it and I said I can’t because of X Factor with Simon.”
“So then they cast it and then when Simon, well he didn’t call, but they called and said ‘No you’re not doing it [X Factor]’ I missed a huge gig. So I was furious.”
She ranted: “Do you remember everything that year in the press, they’re old, young blood. I went mad.”
“And then he called me. He was trying to sweet-talk me. He would always change, change, change. You’re the one that needs changing mate.”
Poking fun at Simon’s repetitive dress sense, she quipped: “Someone who dresses the same for three decades, they don’t see that it’s not right. No one’s gonna tell him but everything, the same, the same, the same.”
Simon’s BGT colleague Amanda Holden later took a swipe at Sharon and Louis over their comments about the music mogul on the show.
Her comments sparked a war of words with Sharon, as the former X Factor judge hit back at Amanda in a lengthy statement shared on social media.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge said: “I hated seeing certain people in a reality show dissing Simon – he’s the person who’s given them all the chances, given them a lot of money and a lifestyle they probably wouldn’t have had.” – which ignited the feud between her and Sharon.
“It’s bitter and pathetic. It was like Cinderella with her two sisters in the background – just stabby, stabby, stabby,” she added.
Sharon responded to Amanda’s remarks in a lengthy statement shared on X, in which she branded her an “ill-informed sycophantic.”
In response @AmandaHolden pic.twitter.com/EnUeJWHWOz
— Sharon Osbourne (@MrsSOsbourne) April 13, 2024
The 71-year-old wrote: “Amanda, I am responding to your interview with the Daily Mail on April 12th, I respect the fact that you feel the need to defend your good friend and employer, Simon Cowell, who is also your husband’s employer, or so I’ve read.”
“However, a couple of your statements regarding myself are factually incorrect.”
