Britain's Got Talent's Simon Cowell causes Golden Buzzer backlash as Ofcom 'threat' made
Simon Cowell has faced the wrath of Britain's Got Talent viewers over his pick for Golden Buzzer, with some even threatening to contact Ofcom.
After he saw his colleagues Amanda Holden, Ant and Dec and Alesha Dixon all press the buzzer last weekend, as the ITV show returned for a new series, Simon was the latest member of the panel to send an act straight through to the live semi finals, having been blown away by already well known Japanese dance group Cyberagent Legit.
The troupe revealed they'd been performing together since they were toddlers and Simon was clearly a huge fan of what he saw, as with little hesitation, he reached across the desk to hit the Golden Buzzer, sending gold confetti falling onto the dancers, as they reacted with delight.
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However, while like judge Simon, there were plenty of Britain's Got Talent viewers also very impressed by Cyberagent Legit, others didn't approve of the buzzer going to another act from outside of Britain, after Ant and Dec chose South Korean taekwondo collective Ssaulabi.
Hitting out at Simon's pick on X, one critic ranted: "No issue with acts coming from other countries, but stop shipping them as fresh undiscovered talent, they were already famous and Simon scouted them to appear BGT is just a dumpster for big acts already known to the judges." Equally unimpressed, a second posted: "Publicity stunt for Simon. This will be shown all over Japan. We’ve seen this act 10000 times."
Mentioning broadcasting regulator Ofcom, a third wrote: ""Did ITV get a group booking for a flight from Japan? Or is this Japan's got Talent?" as a third asked: "Can Ofcom look at this like the trade descriptions act?! A very misleading name for a TV show!"
Amongst all the negative comments, one BGT viewers leapt the show and Simon's defence, as they reacted: "I don't get the hate surrounding the non-british acts like this one on BGT. Its fully common for GT series' like America's Got Talent to feature acts who're not from the title country. They don't have to limit those who audition to JUST people from said title country."