The X Factor creator Simon Cowell has lashed out at Natalia Kills and Willy Moon after their appearance as judges on the New Zealand version of the show last month.
"It was hateful. She sounded mad. It didn't even make sense," Cowell told the Daily Mail's Weekend magazine.
"Where theycocked up was that they didn't apologise straight away. If they'd both been genuinely sorry and called me, and apologised to the guy and his family, who knows what could have happened? They didn't. They were quite defensive."
The husband and wife were fired from their judging spots following their on air rant at Joe Irvine in the first live show of the series.
After a barrage of criticism from social media and celebs, the pair issued apologies for their actions via their Twitter accounts, but also hinted that they were told to stir things up behind the scenes.
Kills had accused Irvine of copying her husband, fellow judge Willy Moon, "from the hair to the suit", and said he was a "laughing stock" and made her "sick". Moon added that Irvine reminded him of a creepy killer and found his performance "cheap and absurd".
