SIMON COWELL - FIRED JUDGE FIRES BACK AT SIMON COWELL

A judge who was fired by producer Simon Cowell from the British hit TV show X-Factor has angrily denounced Cowell in the Sunday tabloid News of the World. "I have been completely shafted by Simon," talent manager Louis Walsh said in an interview. He told the newspaper that he learned he had been dropped from the show during a trip to Stockholm, where he was meeting songwriters who were working on numbers for the new series. He said he received a phone call from producer Richard Holloway, who told him, "We've got bad news. You're not going to be a judge any more." Walsh said that he talked to Cowell afterwards. "He blames ITV for my leaving, but I don't believe for a second that this has anything to do with them. Simon controls everything about X Factor. This has everything to do with him."

12/03/2007