He regretted it straight away.
The weekend’s Xtra Factor got a lot of attention due to Simon’s ‘joke’ about presenter Rylan Clarke-Neal.
During the live show, Rylan introduced segment that involved the judges deciding which fan question to answer from behind a set of front doors.
Speaking of the segment Rylan says “I love a front door”.
Simon then added:
“I thought you liked a back door”
The audience and judges seem to gasp at his ‘joke’ and Simon quickly turn away from the camera.
Simon seems to immediately regret the joke, turning bright red and apologising:
“I shouldn’t have said that,” he said. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.”
Rylan played along and joked with the judge, before adding, “it’s alright I’ll get over it.”
#xfactor just fell into the gutter! @SimonCowell asks @Rylan about his #BackDoor #awks @TheXFactor pic.twitter.com/IuAuq8PwPy
— FRQ.fm (@FRQfm) October 15, 2016
Rylan was praised for handling the situation so well, while many took to twitter to express their surprise and shock at Simon.
https://twitter.com/DowngirlsNW1/status/787399770029617152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/murderous_andy/status/787399329682259968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I can't believe Simon made that "back door" quip !! #XtraFactorLive #XFactor pic.twitter.com/XQ8FvX8ves
— Jonathan Lansana (@tvgenius05) October 15, 2016
Although not everyone was shocked. Indeed some people felt it was just Carry On style humour…
when @simoncowell said to @Rylan on xtrafactor "i thought you liked the back door" lol pic.twitter.com/oyqo4zwrJM
— roberto barella (@robmfairweather) October 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/johnjamesduffy/status/787613335617404928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/GemmaWrightx/status/787399463358914561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Rylan himself commented on the situation on Twitter:
Just to clear it all up. X pic.twitter.com/GRCpRddDgx
— R Y L A N (@Rylan) October 16, 2016
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