Olly Murs said the gaffe that saw him announce Monica Michael was going home on the X Factor before the official result was announced was "massively blown out of proportion".
After the show he tweeted an apology and said he "made a massive f*** up" but is now pushing back against criticism of the blunder.
Speaking on the red carpet of the ITV Gala, he said: "I think you need to put it in perspective with everything that's going on in the world. At the end of the day, I made a single mistake at a critical point in X Factor which was massively blown out of proportion."
Murs announced that Michael was leaving the competition after mistaking the number of judges who had chosen to send her home before the results of the deadlock round were officially announced. Michael was eventually eliminated when the public vote revealed she had less support than Anton Stephans.
He denied that his mistake proved the results of the show were a fix.
"I had no idea Monica was going until I got the envelope. And it was just a really awkward moment for me because I made a stupid mistake," he said.
Speaking about the reaction of head judge Cowell afterwards, Murs said: "I was expecting a telling off if I'm honest but I didn't get one which was nice."
He continued: "I saw everyone after, I saw Monica, I saw the all judges and said I was so sorry and let myself down."
Murs and Caroline Flack took over as co-hosts on the ITV show at the beginning of this series, replacing Dermot O'Leary who has most recently been seen stepping in at the last moment to cover the BBC Children In Need appeal night show for Sir Terry Wogan.
He said that he had received messages of support from his celebrity pals including O'Leary after the show.
"Dermot messaged me, we text each other, and he was so supportive, as were Holly and Phil on This Morning, as was Lorraine (Kelly) as was Loose Women. Everyone was so supportive," he said.