Celebrity gossip Perez Hilton has been vocal about his desire to take over judging duties for mean-mouthed music mogul Simon Cowell when the Brit leaves American Idol this May, and in a press call with The Associated Press on Thursday, Cowell seemed to co-sign Hilton’s campaign. Simon says that Hilton, who has his own music label under Warner Music Group, could be a positive addition to the panel.
“Perez would be funny,” Cowell said. “He’s got good taste in music, he’s got a personality, that could work.”
In the event that the blogger can’t become an Idol judge, he’d like to lend his “expertise” to Cowell’s new talent show, The X Factor America.
“I think that Simon Cowell leaving American Idol is amazing, because those are two potential jobs that I may have in the future,” Perez told MTV last month. “I’d be a great judge. But I’d also happily be a judge along with Simon Cowell on his US version of X Factor. Basically, I’m shamelessly looking for work. I’m available. And I’m cheap!” added the notorious fameseeker.
Cowell also brushed off rumors that controversial radio shock jock or pop queen Madonna could join the show. Simon believes Madge wouldn’t be able to agree to the “time commitment,” while Howard doesn’t have the enough experience in the music industry to make a valid contribution to the show.
“I know Howard’s name has been in there for a while, but I’m fairly certain that there hasn’t been an approach at any time for Howard to do this show. I think, over the years, judges have been replaced by personalities. That, in the long term, will create problems because you have to be able to spot a star. My advice would be find somebody who actually knows what they’re talking about and has actually experienced success in the music business. (Stern) doesn’t seem to have any of this criteria.”