Simon Cowell’s Recent Announcement Slammed By K-Pop Fans

It is not the first time Simon Cowell has pissed off K-Pop fans.

Simon Cowell‘s viral announcement has left many K-Pop fans irritated.

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Simon Cowell | NBC

Simon Cowell is an English television personality, entrepreneur, and record executive known for his part in creating some of the biggest musical acts. Of these, the most famous is undoubtedly One Direction.

The then five-piece group was formed on The X Factor and shot to superstardom before the departure of Zayn Malik in March 2015 and their indefinite hiatus, which began in 2016.

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One Direction | NPR

It seems this hiatus has affected Simon Cowell directly, as his newest announcement mentioned them by name.

In an interview with Rolling Stone published on June 4, Simon Cowell stated that he was looking for the next One Direction, saying no boyband has reached the same level of success.

Every generation deserves a megastar boyband and I don’t think there has been one to have the success of One Direction in over 14 years. The industry tends to focus on solo artists – so it usually takes someone from outside to put a group together.

— Simon Cowell

Many K-Pop fans took offense to this, calling out Cowell’s “western-centric” perspective purposely leaving out the success of K-Pop groups. Some even recalled Cowell’s own reaction to BTS’s success, when he mentioned wanting to create a “UK-Pop group” to rival them.

These call outs are for good reason — BTS have broken several records set by One Direction, including the most followers on Instagram and X, and the global event cinema record.

The group has also outperformed One Direction musically, including breaking their record for the most views on a YouTube video in 24 hours and having more number 1s on Billboard‘s “Hot 100” chart, in addition to others.

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BTS | BIGHIT Music
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BTS | Guinness World Records

While the group’s active times have not continued to overlap, it is apparent that Cowell’s statement did disregard BTS (and several other popular groups).

BTS

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