The point is that someone like Natalia isn't seen as being "allowed" to have the right to be mean/harsh as she was, while Simon is simply for the fact that his meanness adds entertainment value to his persona. It's a clear double-standard & not right. She shouldn't have been fired.
Whether it's a white man, a half ethnic woman or a talking dog, what was said was disgusting and uncalled for. Even if they believed he was copying Willy, they should both be flattered. It's not like Joe was claiming the entire look and performance to be an original look and piece.
Quote:
Originally posted by MusicTalker
I'll just leave this here. 1:05.
Lol
There's a difference between light teasing someone's weight (which is obviously no secret) and blatantly tearing someone apart unnecessarily. That woman is going to hear all her life that she's fat, better from the get go so she can toughen up (if not already). I highly doubt Joe is going to get through life being told he's copying Willy Moon and that he should be disgusted for having no respect for creativity.
Also, a woman that is critical is automatically labeled a bitch. Not saying Natalia or her husband's comments weren't out of line, because they clearly were, but there's still clearly sexism at play in terms of people's response to public figures in judging positions. The response to her outburst is way stronger than I've ever seen directed towards a male judge who made a cruel comment (i.e. Simon, the "beloved" mean-guy of every judging panel).
Further evidence of my point: this video of Britney being manipulated into making her seem like a "bitch". The video is literally called "Britney Spears being a bitch @ X Factor USA" & has over 2 million views (6,923 likes vs. only 854 dislikes) . If you look at the video, she's barely mean at all, but people fell for rhetoric & automatically associated a woman w/ an opinion as BITCH.
There's a difference between light teasing someone's weight (which is obviously no secret) and blatantly tearing someone apart unnecessarily. That woman is going to hear all her life that she's fat, better from the get go so she can toughen up (if not already). I highly doubt Joe is going to get through life being told he's copying Willy Moon and that he should be disgusted for having no respect for creativity.
The problem is that Simon has not ever said something this newsworthy that was altogether 1.) this unrelated to the actual performance being criticized or the vocals/musicality, 2.) delivered with such straightforward hatred that was seemingly unprovoked, 3.) spoken in such tactlessness, and 4.) was this delusionally asserted (i.e. her trying to really make it seem like the contestant was trying to rip off her husband, as if he is some well known enough star to merit that). Simon has many times made contestants upset or cry by being brusque and straight asshole-ish at points in his critiques, but Simon has always delivered his commentary/critiques on a production-ready level, tinged with some ill-timed humor or inciting a back-and-forth with his fellow judges, all of which usually made for entertaining TV. Natalia and Willy both came across like amateurs who were just being mean-spirited and bullying for the sake of bullying, without the slightest bit of constructiveness in their comments and nary a wink to some "villainous judge" TV persona, which Simon was always very much aware of and played up.
It was embarrassing watching their beyond delusional "critiques" play out like two mean girls sitting in the corner of a party. The biggest issue with Natalia and Willy's attack was that it was not only unprovoked, but seemed wholly predatory on a contestant that really was not even remotely deserving of it, which doesn't make for entertaining TV, period. This is not an issue of sexism. It's an issue of bad TV being made by folks who think they are being entertaining and pushing "boundaries" by being outright hateful. The fact that the NZ X Factor panel didn't particularly have a Paula or Demi to really stand up and fight for the contestant (Mel gave some decent feedback in his favor, but it wasn't directed at Natalia/Willy) highlighted the tastlessness of their critiques even more.
Whether it's a white man, a half ethnic woman or a talking dog, what was said was disgusting and uncalled for. Even if they believed he was copying Willy, they should both be flattered. It's not like Joe was claiming the entire look and performance to be an original look and piece.
Lol
There's a difference between light teasing someone's weight (which is obviously no secret) and blatantly tearing someone apart unnecessarily. That woman is going to hear all her life that she's fat, better from the get go so she can toughen up (if not already). I highly doubt Joe is going to get through life being told he's copying Willy Moon and that he should be disgusted for having no respect for creativity.
Making fun of someone's weight, even lightly, is tearing someone apart unnecessarily. It's cruel and way meaner than what Natalia said to that guy.
Mandisa (the girl who auditioned and got made fun of by Simon for her weight in that video) has commented on how much the comment hurt her.
