Seeing as though self-harm is something that "The X-Factor" judge and mentor Demi Lovato has been extremely open about dealing with, Simon Cowell's latest joking remarks on the subject has certainly rubbed her fans the wrong way, causing many to lash out at him via Twitter.
On the latest performance episode of "X-Factor," as Yahoo! TV reports, fellow judge Paulina Rubio asked contestant Jeff Gutt to "show me blood," to which Cowell responded incredulously and jokingly, "You mean you want him to cut himself? You mean you want him to stab himself?"
While Rubio, whose native language is Spanish (and as a result, often experiences some endearing world salad) was likely using a "blood, sweat and tears" metaphor to give criticism, that didn't stop Cowell from taking the opportunity to poke fun at her, as he often does with Lovato and Kelly Rowland and vice versa on the panel. Although the judges' bickering back and forth is all in good fun and part of the nature of the show, however, many of Lovato's fans were furious at this particular joke he made in front of the 21-year-old singer who struggled with cutting and self-harm throughout her life.
Lovato, who normally steps in to speak her mind when Cowell is concerned, stayed quiet during the exchange between him and Rubio, in contrast to many of her dedicated "Lovatics" on Twitter.
"I will keep tweeting you @SimonCowell until you say you shouldn't have made comments on cutting its not okay. -Apologize-," wrote @welovatoyoudemi, while @caroodallem tweeted: "@SimonCowell don't joke about cutting when you are standing in the same room as Demi. You just DON'T. #XFACTOR #respect."
Other fans echoed similar sentiments, and @fifthvato pointed out, that "it's one thing to playfully bicker with demi, but to make a cutting comment on national television when demi's right there....."
The results of the latest "X-Factor" episode air tonight on FOX.
