You had to know that “Mr. Nasty” (or is he the “King of Honesty”) Simon Cowell wouldn’t be able to hold his tongue too long after watching Britney Spears tank on the MTV Video Music Awards.
Here are some of his kinder remarks:
“Britney made possibly the worst comeback in history on Sunday night, performing her new track Gimme More. She pranced around like a zombie in bra and pants in a performance which could have effectively ended her career as a pop singer.”
Cowell, who has had a hand in shaping the careers of pop singers around the world says if he were a part of Brit’s team he would have taken one look at her in rehearsals and not allowed her on stage.
“It would have been worth pulling her off the bill — no matter what the cost — to save any chance she had of resurrecting her career,” Cowell told a British newspaper. “She wasn’t ready for that show in every possible way. The song wasn’t right, the image wasn’t right and she just wasn’t rehearsed.”
No kidding.
In fact in the days following Spears’ disastrous performance several dancers in Sunday’s production number have come forward–spilling the beans to New York newspapers about what it was like having to be on stage with the lip-synching pop tart.
One dancer claims Spears was scheduled to arrive at rehearsal at around 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, but didn’t even arrive in Vegas until 4:30 p.m.
“It was ridiculous . . . The production people at MTV were freaking out . . . Nobody can tell Britney what to do anymore. No one can control her. She is a mess,” the source complained.
When she finally showed up at the rehearsal, Britney reportedly didn’t come empty-handed. According to the dancers, Brit brought along a frozen tropical libation which she refused to put down while she walked through the moves.
“The dance number was spectacular – without her,” an unnamed dancer told the paper. “When the stand-in was rehearsing with the dancers, in the hours they were all waiting for her, it was amazing. Then Britney showed up and refused to do anything. The dancers were supposed to lift and twirl her in the air a few times, and that just wasn’t going to happen. The more complicated dance moves had to be erased because she couldn’t do them.”
Cowell says he’s not surprised by Brit’s meltdown. According to Cowell, the mother of two was scheduled to make her comeback on “American Idol,” but when he asked her to perform live on the final her people pulled the plug.
“They should have done the same with her MTV slot,” Cowell said.
And today more fallout from the Britney’s now infamous performance…
According to PEOPLE Magazine, Spears had got into a verbal duo with celebrity hairstylist (and Jessica Simpson’s BFF) Ken Paves.
The magazine reports that weeks before the awards show, “Britney had requested his two female assistants [to do her extensions] since she prefers women around her,” and was disappointed when Paves himself arrived and wanted to put Jessica Simpson brand extensions in her hair.
“He bailed,” a source tells PEOPLE. Paves’ rep told the magazine: “Ken made the professional decision not to do her hair for the VMAs.”
And a final note about the spangly bra-and-boy shorts outfit Spears’ flaunted on stage. An MTV rep went public yesterday maintaining that costumers picked out a form-flattering corset for her to wear, but Spears chose the bikini instead.
“MTV wanted her to wear a corset outfit. It would have looked great and covered a lot of things up, but she hated it and didn’t think it was sexy enough,” a source revealed.
I find it amazing that along with MTV execs, Spears’ own peeps were concerned about the singer’s impending debacle, yet no one did a thing to stop her from stepping out on stage. Don’t get me wrong. I agree; Britney has no one to blame for her pitiful performance but herself.
Yeah, you have to know that things are not looking good when your back-up dancers are texting pals, asking them to pray for them before a show.