Epic Records executive, L.A. Reid, recently told The Hollywood reporter that his stint as a judge on the now-defunct X Factor USA was the “worst thing I’ve ever done.” Now that his remarks have gone viral, L.A. attempted a little damage control on twitter yesterday.
My comments at Midem were about me personally and were not meant to reflect on Simon Cowell, the X Factor, or its successes.
— LA Reid (@LA_Reid) June 7, 2015
@SimonCowell and I are lifelong friends and I have immense respect for his many talents and all that he has achieved. — LA Reid (@LA_Reid) June 7, 2015
And then…Simon Cowell responded last night!
@LA_Reid. If judging X Factor USA was the worst thing you ever did…my taste at times did have its upside pic.twitter.com/ukDudFmqPg
— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) June 9, 2015
@La_Reid. I had a great time working with you. We had fun and we got to work together on amazing group. I had a blast — Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) June 9, 2015
I am getting my own back LA. But you are a friend and you have really worked hard to break the girls. pic.twitter.com/lCyysXcdcT
— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) June 9, 2015
TOUCHE!
Working on the X Factor affected his taste, the executive told THR. “It almost destroyed it,” he said. “It completely threw me off.”
“…What works for television isn’t necessarily the thing that works in the traditional journey of music, so I adjusted my taste for television,” said L.A. “But the truth is, I lowered my bar — my bar was quite high, if I’m being honest, and as a result I didn’t have the same level of success. The bar is quite high again now, but it was damaging. I worked with Simon Cowell, who I love and have great respect for and he has great taste, but being around him for that long, I started to take on his taste, and I’m an amateur at having his taste — I’m good at my kind of taste.”
It sounds to me like he was blaming X Factor for a rocky start as head of Epic, with a little bit of shade tossed Simon’s way. In any case, it’s nice to know that two have remained…frenemies?
