5SOS' Ashton Irwin Slams Simon Cowell's Controversial One Direction Comments

13 June 2024, 16:45

By Sam Prance

Simon Cowell says he regrets not owning the One Direction name so that he could use it without the band's permission.

5 Seconds of Summer drummer Ashton Irwin has called out Simon Cowell over his divisive comments about One Direction.

Earlier this week, Simon Cowell appeared as a guest on Stephen Bartlett’s The Diary Of A CEO podcast. In the interview, he said: "One thing I regret is I should have kept the name…I should have owned the name. That’s the problem. Could have made an animation or whatever, but when you give an artist the name, it’s not yours – and that’s my only regret."

Simon also suggested that he could have organised a One Direction reunion tour without having to worry about all the band members signing onto it: "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."

Simon's comments sparked huge backlash from One Direction fans and now 5SOS star Ashton has entered the chat.

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On June 10th, a 5SOS fan took to X/Twitter to share a clip from Simon's interview with the comment: "umm is this new???! have yall seen this????"

The clip quickly went viral with many people calling out Simon and it wasn't long before Ashton noticed it. Replying to the tweet, Ashton wrote: "The worst."

In a separate tweet, Ashton wrote: "I ain’t saying nothing entirely negative about Simons character or being. I just really despise the language he uses surrounding “owning” an artists name. Just made me gag , ya know? Surely we aren’t encouraging that behavior when doing business in these modern times."

Ashton's tweet received huge praise online with over 40,000 people liking it.

As it stands, the members of One Direction are yet to address Simon's remarks. However, both Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson have reportedly unfollowed Simon on Instagram since he made the comments.

Read more One Direction news here:

• Are August Moon Based On One Direction? How Harry Styles is Connected To The Idea of You
• Harry Styles Says He Would 'Never Say Never' To A One Direction Reunion
• One Direction’s X Factor Auditions: All Five Of Their Life-Changing Moments
• One Direction Reunion Seemingly Ruled Out By Simon Cowell
• Zayn Malik Shares Biggest One Direction Regret

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