‘X Factor’ winner James Arthur has been fired by Syco Records boss Simon Cowell, according to reports.
James has apparently pushed things too far and his latest lyrics, which reportedly include a reference to a terrorist act, and Simon has “lost patience” with the Middlesbrough-born singer.
James Arthur
“It seems James is self-destructing,” a source told The Sun. “He has done himself no favours with his outbursts. It’s as if he’s almost willing Syco to drop him.
In mixtape track ‘Follow The Leader’, James raps, “Look at what you do to me, I’m crying over stupid s***, you’re such a f***ing homophobe, wish I’d never let you in, to think that I was thinking maybe I should let you live, I’m gonna blow up your family like I’m a terrorist.”
James has already taken to Twitter to defend the lyrics, stating that they are actually taken from a letter from a “demented fan”.
“The song "follow the leader" from the mixtape is not promoting terrorism, it's a story, a reciting of a Stan Esc letter from a demented fan,” he tweeted.
On another track, James reportedly brags about taking drugs, singing: ““I can smoke my weed, you can drink rosé, all day.”
“He’s blown it now. James was given a lot of special treatment that no other artist signed to a record label like Syco would get," the source adds. “The top bosses there were prepared to go ahead with another album and try and rehabilitate James with the public.
“It’s a very sad and messy way for this to all end.”
Syco Records boss Simon has apparently had enough
This latest incident is another in a long line of mishaps, which have included publicly sacking his PR team via Twitter and becoming embroiled in a row over homophobia when he used a homophobic slur in another rap.
Fellow ‘X Factor’ contestant Rylan Clark previously has defended James, stating that he thinks his pal is “insecure”.
Simon and James have had a number of public spats, including a recent incident where the ‘X Factor’ judge said James needed to “shut up and just put the records out”.