Ellen DeGeneres and Simon Cowell on Upcoming American Idol Season

American Idol fans were shocked to hear that Paula Abdul, after being with the show ever since it first launched, would not return for a new season. After many weeks of speculation and rumors, a replacement was named in the person of talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres. Speaking with the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, Ellen says that’s the last thing she wants from audiences: to see her as Paula’s replacement.

The point of the matter is, Ellen says, that she’s not the one who took Paula’s job from her, in the sense that she had nothing to do with her departure. In fact, it took producers quite some time to approach her with the offer to be the fourth judge after Paula left, which means she had nothing to do with that. For those AI fans who will see things differently, DeGeneres can’t say but that she long stopped trying to please everybody.

Of course, that’s not to say that she won’t be doing her best to make this work. “I understand it [the negativity coming from viewers]. I was one of those people that was skeptical, like, ‘Why are they adding a fourth judge? I don’t understand this.’ But I do think that Kara adds a lot to the show now. And also, it’s not just a new judge. It’s a new judge in the place of someone that they loved. I mean, a lot of people loved Paula, and I don’t want to be the person that took Paula’s job away from her. Which I wasn’t. I’m not going to be able to please everyone. I gave up trying to do that a long time ago,” Ellen says for the magazine.

The same issue of EW also features Simon Cowell, Mr. Nasty on American Idol. As early as the first season, he and Paula made a very interesting pair, in that one always countered and occasionally placated the other in everything they said. In this sense, Cowell promises that things won’t change that much, not even the banter with host Ryan Seacrest as regards his orientation, despite having an openly gay judge on the panel now (Ellen).

“Let me tell you something: We are the least racist, homophobic show in the world. What we do have, thank God, is a sense of humor. I hate political correctness. I wouldn’t go into any show saying anything is off-limits. If we have to abide by a ton of rules, we might as well call it a day now,” Simon says when asked about how Ellen’s presence will influence his habit of picking on Seacrest.