Cowell backs Tulisa over sex tape (VIDEO)

Cowell backs Tulisa over sex tape (VIDEO)
Cowell backs Tulisa over sex tape (VIDEO) (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Britain's Got Talent supremo Simon Cowell has reassured X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos her job is safe after the release of a sex tape. Speaking at the press launch for Britain's Got Talent, Simon gave his support for Tulisa, who has accused an ex-boyfriend of betraying her by putting a sex tape showing the pair in "an intimate moment" on the internet. The singer posted a video on YouTube in which she said she had "confronted" Justin Edwards, who performs as MC Ultra. Simon told The Sun: "It makes no difference with me about her coming back on the show - 100 per cent. "I mean, God, if I said no [to her coming back] it's allowing every sleazebag in the country to wreck somebody's career when she didn't do something wrong." He went on to describe the person who leaked the video as "a scumbag" who should "literally find a hole and hide in it for the next week". In the video Tulisa said: "This is someone that I loved, that I trusted, that meant the world to me, that I feel deeply betrayed by. "I am sure that everyone at home has had intimate moments with someone they cared about and never expected at any point that they would go and share it with the rest of the world." The N-Dubz singer said the emergence of the footage was not "unexpected" and that mutual friends had warned her it could surface online. Justin has not commented directly but tweeted: "I believe in silence being a sign of Integrity but in this case I guess I'll have to speak up and Lay out the facts and let you guys decide." He added: "To find the truth both sides of the story should be heard b4 passing judgment #thatisall." Tulisa shot to fame as a member of N-Dubz, with her cousin Dappy and ex-boyfriend Fazer in 2000. She made her debut as an X Factor judge last year and mentored the winning act Little Mix.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.