Simon Cowell Confirms: I’m Leaving American Idol

Speculation on this has been making the rounds for many a week now, with even insiders, like Randy Jackson, saying that there was no foundation to it. Just hours ago, Simon Cowell has announced that this will be his last season on American Idol, as he will try next to focus all his attention on bringing the X Factor to the US, as TMZ can confirm.

For nine seasons, this one also included, Cowell has been a fixture on American Idol, becoming in time the judge everyone loves to hate but, at the same time, also the man whose opinion fans seem to value the most because he’s always honest. He and Paula Abdul, who left the show after the eighth season concluded, made one of the best pairs on television for being so different in character and taste. Now that both Paula and Simon are to be replaced on the panel of judges, chances are the show will take a hit in ratings, it is being said.

“Simon Cowell will no longer be crushing terrible singers’ dreams on the most popular show on television. Cowell just announced this will be his last season on American Idol – and that he’s leaving the show to be a judge and executive producer on FOX’s upcoming American version of The X Factor... the British talent show that launched Leona Lewis’ career. Cowell just made the announcement during the semiannual Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena,” TMZ says of the announcement made only hours ago.

“Simon said he was ‘offered a lot of money’ to stay on American Idol... but he ‘wanted to do something different.’ BTW, Simon reportedly makes around $36 million a year on A.I. For his part, Ryan Seacrest tweeted: ‘this is simon’s last season on idol. He;s working on US version of x-factor! He is one of the most brilliant people in our biz! Congrats’,” the same media outlet goes on to say.

Reactions to the announcement, as expected as it was, have been anything but understanding, with fans taking to Tweeter to say for them American Idol ends when Simon Cowell leaves, as the New York Daily News sums it up. The very assumption that Idol can survive as an idea without its most popular judge is absurd and marks the end of what was once one of the most loved television shows, they say.