Rylan Clark-Neal has jumped to the defence of Simon Cowell, after a joke he made in this weekend’s ‘Xtra Factor’ was poorly received by the public.
In Saturday night’s (15 October) show, Rylan was playing a game with the judges, during which viewers who phoned in were asked to choose from a selection of doors.
When Rylan suggested he “loved a front door”, Simon chipped in with the rather ill-advised comment: “I thought you liked back doors?”
Simon was quick to apologise when his fellow judges were shocked, insisting that he “shouldn’t have said that”, but that didn’t stop social media users for calling him out, with some even going as far as accusing him of homophobia.
Rylan has now spoken out about the furore, insisting that he wasn’t offended by the music mogul’s comment.
“Clearing it all up” on his Twitter page on Sunday night (16 October), Rylan wrote: “Genuinely wasn’t offended by Simon last night but understand some people might be.
“It was just a joke between friends and meant extremely light-hearted, but trust me I’m more offended by comments I get on social media every day calling me worse names by pricks sitting behind a keyboard.
“It was banter in this case and I personally wasn’t offended.”
He then joked: “Also, I’ll get him to buy me a house in Ibiza whilst threatening to sue him. Win win.”
This weekend’s ‘X Factor’ has proved to be a controversial one for a number of reasons, with Sharon Osbourne having to defend herself when she forgot her own act’s name while introducing her to the stage.
Elsewhere, ‘X Factor’ fans are becoming increasingly unimpressed that Honey G is through to the next round of live shows, while the woman herself has dismissed accusations of racism, when viewers suggested that her performances were guilty of cultural appropriation.
