'X Factor' Judge Simon Cowell Promises New Project On 'Dolphin And Whale Issues' Follwoing 'Xtra Factor' Controversy

'My New Project Will Bring Dolphin Issues To A Mass Audience'
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Good news for fans of marine life now, as Simon Cowell has promised his Twitter followers that he’s planning an upcoming project to bring the plight of dolphins into the mainstream.

Wait... what?

You may recall that last week, the music mogul came under fire over a preview clip for an episode of ‘The Xtra Factor’, which showed the boys category taking part in a dolphin show stunt, during the Judges’ Houses stage in Mexico.

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Simon Cowell

Animal rights advocates slammed the clip, bombarding animal-lover Simon - whose dogs Squiddy and Diddly joined him and Sinitta at Judges’ Houses in LA - with tweets, demanding for the clip to be cut.

Simon then released a statement in response to the controversy, claiming that he had no idea the scene had been filmed and that was making sure it was cut from the episode.

He also defended the ‘Xtra Factor’ crew, calling them a “hard working team who weren’t aware of the growing concern regarding dolphins”.

Since then, the ‘X Factor’ boss has taken things a step further, teasing his Twitter followers with the news that a forthcoming “project” will deal with the serious issues surrounding dolphins and whales in captivity.

However, he also made it clear that this wasn’t something spur of the moment that came as a result of the controversy, and in fact this was an issue that he’d been hoping to bring to people’s attention “for a while”.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time dolphin and whale captivity and ‘X Factor’ have gone hand in hand, after previous winner James Arthur asked fans to design an album cover for his release, ‘All The World’s A Stage’, inspired by the documentary ‘Blackfish’, which tells the story of an orca whale in captivity.

'X Factor' Finalists
'X Factor' Finalists(01 of12)
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Andrea Faustini (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(02 of12)
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Jake Quickenden (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(03 of12)
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Blonde Electric (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(04 of12)
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Paul Akister (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(05 of12)
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Chloe Jasmine (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(06 of12)
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Ben Haenow (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(07 of12)
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Fleur East (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(08 of12)
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New boyband (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(09 of12)
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Lauren Platt (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(10 of12)
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Jay James (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(11 of12)
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Only The Young (credit:ITV)
'X Factor' Finalists(12 of12)
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Steph Nala (credit:ITV)