Simon Cowell - Cowell Slams Sting's Comments

SIMON COWELL has hit back at "idiot" STING for dismissing the music mogul's reality singing contests as "televised karaoke".

The former Police frontman blasted Cowell last year (09), claiming the talent spotter was exploiting talentless wannabees, who are then "humiliated" in a bid to boost television ratings on shows like American Idol and The X Factor.

Sting said, "The X Factor is a preposterous show and you have judges who have no recognisable talent apart from self-promotion, advising them (contestants) what to wear and how to look. It is appalling."

Cowell didn't respond straight away but now he's taking aim at Sting, slamming the star for begrudging anybody else a chance to become a star.

In a new interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan, who is a judge on Cowell's America's Got Talent show, he says, "First of all, anybody who at the age of 60 calls himself Sting is an idiot.

"I find those kind of people... who come from quite humble beginnings and they're (now) living in these stately homes, professing to know everything about everything in the world, and what the contestants may or may not feel... They can say that because they've got everything they want in their lives, but what they're really saying is anybody else who needs a shot shouldn't be allowed to do it."