Simon Mouths Off

“American Idol” kicked off the Museum of TV and Radio’s William S. Paley Festival last week. The Festival features airings of popular shows, followed by panel discussions with cast and crew.

The “Idol” panel consisted of Executive Producer Ken Warwick, FOX reality guru Mike Darnell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest, but as usual it was Simon Cowell getting all of the attention as he unloaded about Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Hicks and contestants crying…

Thanks to Derek for the heads-up on this one…

Simon took the opportunity to confirm what we already knew—that he doesn’t like Taylor. “They [Paula and Randy] loved him. I couldn’t stand him. I didn’t get it.” Simon also admitted that just because someone wins the show doesn’t mean they will sell a lot of records. “At the end of the day you have to find a bona fide recording artist.”

The panel took place just after Thursday’s results show when most of the contestants wound up in tears. Simon seemed to think they were crocodile tears. “My theory is why would you cry if one of your competitors is kicked off? Be delighted. They know the cameras are on. Trust me.”

Simon also took exception with Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson for saying that “Idol” was a “stepping stone” for her. Simon said, “It was her big opportunity to become noticed and she got noticed and she got ‘Dreamgirls.’” Without naming names, Simon said that other past contestants “deliberately turn against the show that made them successful. The reason [they] come on the show is because all the doors had been slammed in their face.”

It’s a rare occasion when I disagree with Simon, but I do when it comes to Jennifer. Here’s what she had to say backstage at the Academy Awards: “Thank God there is such a thing as ‘Idol.’ There’s many other talents that came before that didn’t have a platform to sing, but they allowed us that platform and for that we can say thank you.”

Sorry, Simon. That doesn’t sound like an “Idol” diss to me…

However, it’s that brutal honesty that we’ve come to love about the show, as Warwick admitted during the panel. “You never had a show where someone would say, ‘You suck.’ That makes all the difference.”