AMERICAN IDOL - COWELL ADDRESSES GOODSPEED SUICIDE

COWELL ADDRESSES GOODSPEED SUICIDE

Acknowledging that the suicide of former American Idol contestant Paula Goodspeed hit him "like an express train" and that "it upset me a lot," AI judge Simon Cowell said he began thinking "long and hard" about his acerbic comments to hopeless performers on the show. In the end, he said, he concluded that it would be wise to "continue in the way we have always done. We have tried to have a sense of humor. The show is not an inherently mean show." Speaking during a conference call with reporters in advance of the show's new season, Cowell added, "What happened was awful. My regret is that we didn't know how troubled this person was. If I had gone back in time and known what she was going through, I wish we could have spent time trying to help her, but we genuinely didn't know." Cowell also indicated that he assumes that "everyone who enters American Idol kind of knows the score. If you're not great, you're going to get criticism." In the case of Goodspeed, the judges laughed at her performance and, referring to her braces, Cowell asked how she was able to sing "with that much metal."

18/12/2008