Another day, another horrible Simon Cowell take. Just days after he proclaimed there’d not been a “megastar boyband” since One Direction (we beg to differ), the former X Factor judge is now sharing his one regret with One Direction.
Appearing on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Simon Cowell admitted his one big regret with One Direction is not owning the group’s name, which would have allowed him to do adjacent projects like “an animation or whatever.”
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“The one thing I regret is I should have kept the name,” Cowell admitted, lamenting the fact that the bandmembers own the group’s name and, therefore, what can be done with it because God forbid artists own their own image. “I should have owned the name. That’s the problem. When you give an artist the name, it’s not yours. And that’s my only regret. So if you’re listening, I’ll buy it back from you.”
Cowell elaborated: “If one of the band members, for whatever reason, say they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others [from] touring. So, if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
The recording producer claimed that not owning One Direction’s name was a “very, very naive” move on his part and admitted that it was something that wouldn’t happen again in the future with other potential boybands. “Next time, that will be part of the deal. I have to own the name. They can still make most of the money, but I need to own the name,” he added. How nice.
Cowell might be hypothetically speaking now, but those hypotheticals could soon become a reality since he’s actively looking for “the next One Direction” with open auditions for a new boyband starting this summer in the U.K. for a potential new documentary series produced with Box to Box Films.
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
