Sorry, Simon Cowell, but L.A. Reid didn't like doing your show.
Back in 2011 and 2012 the former Island Def Jam Music Group CEO had a stint on Cowell's U.S. version of "The X Factor" as a co-judge, and although it was short-lived the 59-year-old music executive is admitting that the show was "the worst thing" he has ever done.
During a Q&A session at an event sponsored by Pepsi in Cannes, France, on Saturday, Reid explained why his two-season stint on the show was not everything he planned.
"The first season, yes, I had a great time," Reid told The Hollywood Reporter. "It was a little bit of a vacation. I'd been making music, working at running labels for a long time, and it was a little bit of, 'Let me just have some fun.' But the second season I was fully engaged trying run a label, and it wasn't fun anymore."
Ried appeared on the singing competition series alongside Cowell, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and later Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. Reid told THR that his experience on the show nearly destroyed his taste in music.
"More importantly, it really affected my taste, it almost destroyed it," Reid shared. "It completely threw me off - by the way, I have a book coming out soon, and it'll all be on my book. But yeah, what works for television isn't necessarily the thing that works in the traditional journey of music, so I adjusted my taste for television.
"But the truth is, I lowered my bar, my bar was quite high, if I'm being honest, and as a result I didn't have the same level of success. The bar is quite high again now, but it was damaging. I worked with Simon Cowell, who I love and have great respect for and he has great taste, but being around him for that long, I started to take on his taste, and I'm an amateur at having his taste - I'm good at my kind of taste."
The music executive added that "The Voice" "cleaned our clock." Reid's comments come after Mariah Carey bashed her experience on "American Idol," calling it the "worst experience of my life."
Reid has since taken to Twitter to clear up any misunderstandings about his comments regarding the show, saying, "My comments at Midem were about me personally and were not meant to reflect on Simon Cowell, the X Factor, or its successes."
