Simon Cowell says US is worshipping a false Idol

Simon Cowell has had a pop at his rival Simon Fuller – not so much a broadside as a spud gun – ahead of the much-anticipated launch of the US version of The X Factor on Wednesday. Cowell accused Fuller of having a "dig" at him with the trailers for the new season of American Idol, which Cowell famously quit to launch The X Factor on Fox.

"You know, right from the get-go, when I saw these trailers and it was like every voice deserves to be heard, dig, a warmer, kinder person, dig," Cowell told Piers Morgan on CNN. "I'm thinking, okay, you really don't want me on the show, when I saw it back." Everyone wants to be loved, it appears, even when you have a personal fortune estimated at £200m. Despite the fact it will essentially consist of wannabe pop stars trying to impress a bunch of judges to win a record contract, Cowell says American Idol, sorry, The X Factor will be, like, so totally different from all the other talent shows on the box. "If it didn't work out well, I would be really, really upset, disappointed," said Cowell.

"I've done this show for a long time. I do think it's the best one. I actually do ... I've been quite cautious about saying to people how they're going to feel about it, what is different, because I want them to work it out for themselves," he added. But in case you can't work it out for yourself, Cowell continued: "The way it was shot, and the contestants, and the talent and the stories and for me to be interested when I was shooting the show – and I get bored very, very quickly ... I got a real buzz." Plus, it's got a trap door in the middle of the stage through which rubbish singers are ejected. Anyway, enough about that, exactly why did he get rid of Cheryl Cole?

"She looked a bit bewildered," Cowell told Morgan. "Not everyone's like you, Piers. You come to a country like America, it's a big deal, it takes a while to adjust and I took the view along with a few other people that she would have been comfortable back in the UK. That's what you have to do when you produce. You have to make decisions in the moment. I take full responsibility." As he does no doubt for Red or Black? Morgan's Cowell chat will be screened on CNN International at 8pm.

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