Simon Cowell has hit back at claims of "music industry corruption" by Lily Allen, adding that he's glad he didn't hire her as an X Factor judge. The spat started after Lily tweeted her views about Fleur East's performance of Mark Ronson's unreleased track Uptown Funk on Saturday. The singer accused Simon and record label Sony of "corruption" for getting free publicity for the track, which was planned for release in January. However Simon defended his decision to use the song and told Lily to stop "bleating on" about the show.
© Photo: RexSimon Cowell hit back at Lily Allen after her claims of "corruption"
"Lily should stop bleating on about all this. Fleur needed this break, got a chance, she totally killed it," he said. "Why not be happy for another artist and say congratulations instead of thinking of some stupid conspiracy theory. "The irony is I spoke to Lily about being a judge. And from what I took from the meeting, she was seriously considering it. Thank god I said no. She'd be a barrel of laughs." Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' track was originally scheduled for release on 11 January, however the musician was forced to bring the release date forward to this week after Fleur's performance, which Simon called one of the top three X Factor performances of all time. The single is currently at number one in the iTunes chart, while 26-year-old Fleur's cover is at number seven.
© Photo: Getty ImagesLily Allen has since deleted her tweets criticising the X Factor judge
In since deleted tweets, Lily wrote: "Well done to Simon Cowell for managing to get a not yet released song of theirs sung on prime weekend telly. "It is an amazing song. Fleur did it justice but it's still a great example of music industry corruption #uptownfunk".The X Factor Final airs on ITV on 13 December.
