Simon Says "I Wasn't Listening. I'm Horrified!"

Simon CowellTMZ spoke with Simon Cowell this morning about last night's incident on "A.I.," in which Cowell sarcastically rolled his eyes after contestant Chris Richardson offered condolences to the families of the victims at Virginia Tech.

Cowell told TMZ, "I couldn't hear what Chris had said. I was talking to Paula. My reaction (rolling my eyes) was to what he had said previously, that singing nasally is a form of singing."

It's true, when the judges are off camera they frequently jab at each other as the singers do their thing.

Simon told TMZ he was shocked when he saw what went down: "When I watched the show back, I was horrified."



Reader Comments

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16. poor simon. He could never be THAT heartless.

Posted at 12:20PM on Apr 18th 2007 by Tyranny

17. If he knows the difference between right and wrong and if he's honest with himself, he'll apologize on A.I. tonight in front of America. STUPID U.K., GREEN CARD, NIPPLE SHIRT WEARING, BUTT BLOWING, COMPLETELY TALENTLESS.........................

IGNORAMOUS !!!!!

Posted at 12:24PM on Apr 18th 2007 by GO BACK TO THE U.K. SIMON

18. I rolled my eyes, and I'll admit it. What an awkward and lame thing to do, using that after your horrible performance to gain votes. I'm sure the people of VTech are not watching you perform on AI and waiting for you to send your condolences.

Posted at 12:25PM on Apr 18th 2007 by Caroline

19. your an idiot mandy, you obviously were not watching

Posted at 12:26PM on Apr 18th 2007 by GINA

20. HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID.

Posted at 12:27PM on Apr 18th 2007 by Insensitive, inconsiderate, crude, rude Simon

21. Listen.... the timing was clearly horrible. Simon can be a jackass, but I don't think he's that big of a jackass.

Posted at 12:30PM on Apr 18th 2007 by itwasjustbadtiming

22. I think Simon *was* rolling his eyes at Chris R's VT comment. But I don't blame him, because Chris' timing was really awkward. He was losing his argument, and he quickly changed the subject to the tragedy. I think Chris was sincere though.

It's not fair to suggest that either Chris or Simon are anti-sympathy for the massacre.

Posted at 12:28PM on Apr 18th 2007 by William Harnois

23. GINA, PERHAPS YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WAS NOT WATCHING !

Posted at 12:29PM on Apr 18th 2007 by Insensitive, inconsiderate, crude, rude Simon

24. Caroline, Chris has a HEART. ... unlike you and Simon

Posted at 12:31PM on Apr 18th 2007 by V.T. HOAKIES

25. I may be wrong....any of us could be but this is what I think happened. I had to rewind this over and over because I couldn't believe what I saw. I think Simon heard him speak of the tragedy and thought he was just mentioning it to get votes and he rolled his eyes. I don't like a lot of things Simon does but I know most of it is for show. I do not think that Simon rolled his eyes because he doesn't have a heart for the victims and families of this dispicable act, I just think HE DIDN'T THINK!!

Posted at 12:32PM on Apr 18th 2007 by Pam

26. Simon's excuses makes no sense. If he was rolling his eyes at Paula he would have looked away from her as he did it and not at her since he would have been looking at her if they were conversing. Also she's shaking her head, agreeing with Chris's comments so his excuse about "not hearing it" doesn't work either. If he's at all a decent human being, he'll apologize and stop making excuses. His actions were totally disrespectful.

Posted at 12:38PM on Apr 18th 2007 by lsismor

27. Oh please, V.T.
You can say whatever you want. It doesn't mean you have a heart and are a frickin' hero. Grow up.

Posted at 12:34PM on Apr 18th 2007 by Caroline

28. I saw it. Simon was reacting to Chris's idiotic nasal comment, i was eyerolling too. Chris threw his condolences in there for the sympathy vote.. ugh
GO JORDIN.. WTG SIMON, just keeping it real folks.

Posted at 1:20PM on Apr 18th 2007 by goodbye sanjaya

29. I believe that Simon was rolling his eyes at Chris using the VT shout out as way of trying to get sympathy votes. Remember earlier in the season Simon mocked one of the contestants (was it Sanjaya?) for saying it was his grandfather's birithday. I think it was the same reaction.

The only other thing that would make sense to me would be that Simon was recoiling from the "nasally" defense and that the crowd was so loud, he could not hear what Chris was saying. I have been to shows that are taped for tv and sometines what can clearly be heard on camera cannot be heard by the audience due to audience noise.

Didn't Ryan almost cut Chris off right before the shout out? I think Ryan thought that Chris was going to continue to defend his "nasally" style. That whole piece was akward. I'm hoping Chris goes home tonight. I think it's time.

Posted at 12:40PM on Apr 18th 2007 by she smiled

30. Caroline, I do not wish to do battle of the wits with you. I would win.

Posted at 12:42PM on Apr 18th 2007 by V.T. HOAKIES

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