Poor Cheryl Cole. She’s never going to “happen” in America. All of that boob-flashing and hair-teasing and D-list boyfriend-dumping for naught! According to TMZ, Cheryl Cole was dumped (“fired”) from the American version of The X Factor this week. Sources claim that Cheryl is being replaced with… Nicole Scherzinger, that chick from The Pussycat Dolls who looks like a budget Kim Kardashian (to me). Nicole was supposed to be the co-host of the show, but now she’s moved to the judges’ table and she’ll be “mentoring” the contestants too. After TMZ’s initial report of Cheryl’s firing, they had this story about the reasons behind the replacement:
Cheryl Cole was dropped from the judging panel on “X-Factor” largely because producers were concerned her English accent would be too difficult for an American audience to understand … sources close to the production tell TMZ. .
There were other issues too — we’re told Cheryl and fellow judge Paula Abdul had a “lack of chemistry” … and Cheryl was more expendable.
Producers now want Cheryl to return to the UK version of the show — but according to sources, Cheryl’s royally pissed over how this situation was handled … and may sever ties with “X-Factor” entirely.
With Cheryl out, Steve Jones will be the only host on the show — which debuts in September — while Nicole Scherzinger fills the open seat on the judging panel.
Calls to Simon Cowell still haven’t been returned.
[From TMZ]
Why am I laughing? Oh, God. How much does it suck to be told that you’re more expendable than Paula Abdul?!? That’s the lowest of the low blows. As far as Cheryl’s accent goes, I realized that I hadn’t really heard her speak that much, so I tried to find a decent interview where I could really hear the accent:
Aw, her accent isn’t that bad. I mean, it’s really thick and I have no idea if Americans in general would be able to understand her, but I watch a lot of British shows, so I can understand her. America: We only accept Hugh Grant’s posh accent.
Honestly, though, my conspiracy hat is on. I doubt her accent is even one of the top five reasons she got pushed out.
Reason 1: America doesn’t know who Cheryl Cole is, and we don’t really care.
Reason 2: As a nation, we don’t like women who wear THAT much makeup.
Reason 3: Because she’s not as important as Paula Abdul. BURN!!
Reason 4: Because Cheryl is probably a violent racist.
Reason 5: This:
Reason 6: This:
Reason 7: Her accent.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
If thats true it would be ridiculously awful. Way to go and actually create the problems they are supposedly fearing– by cutting off the audience to anythign different, they are encouraging prejudice and preventing an opportunity to get accustomed to someone with a different accent– in other words encouraging their supposed inability to accept somethign different.
Thats just so insanely shallow and superficial and wrong on so many levels— if its true.
Perhaps she dodged a bullet- the show will probably be a flop. Maybe the producers saw her without the 3 inches of makeup that she applies with a butter knife. Then again Auto- tune doesn’t work on TV like it does on pop songs.
“Cheryl Cole was dropped from the judging panel on “X-Factor” largely because producers were concerned her English accent would be too difficult for an American audience to understand …”
I’m sorry, English is not my first language but I can understand her very good and if I CAN, I think a person born and raised in the USA can do the same too, they have to. Unless she speak some dialect, and she’s not (at least in that interview).
Maybe she is not famous enough in the USA – I’m European and I don’t know who she is, but the accent… please, that’s the most stupid thing I’ve heard today! (But the day is long, who knows…)
Oh Thank God!
Her problem isn’t just her accent but also and mostly her attitude. That woman is such trash.
Nicole has judged and mentored on different singing and talent competitions and she’s great. She does not come across as a diva and is nurturing while being truthful. Great news! X-factor might yet be a success in the US.
I try to avoid anything Simon Cowell’s involved in like the plague and I have the same rule for Chavvy Cheryl.
But I have had the misfortune to see interviews with Nicole Scherzinger and she’s a complete and utter dimwit.
That is the strangest “English” accent iv heard. It actually sounds like a cross between Irish & Scottish accents!
Anyhoodle… I dont think the accent is the problem here. More likely they realized that Nicole is a much bigger name in the USA.
I very much doubt that it’s legal to fire someone because of their accent.
WTF kind of accent is that? I’ve never heard anyone British sound like that. I could only follow half of what she was saying.
Also, no one cares about her.
It does seem kind of late in the game to pull this, but since she has been doing some of the audition rounds maybe they realized there is a real problem with her accent. I do believe it could be a combination of her accent,lack of chemistry with Paula (a/k/a bitch fight)and not being well known here.
Yesssss!!
This made my day.
Although I was pleased to see her leave the UK, this news still pleases me. I’m shocked that she even got the gig in the first place. She’s so talentless and aggravating. The right decision has been made. how humiliating for her though. Surely it would have been easier to never get the job than to go through this?
Her accent isn’t bad. I can understand her and I’m not even a native speaker of the English language.
I agree that the main reason why she was booted is because no one really knows her besides UK. I can recall only one of her songs – “Parachute” – and it’s only because Derek Hough is dancing in the video (and that’s why I looked it up).
She’s such a chav!
I don’t think it is her accent (as sucky as it is) because we have alot of international favorites around.
It is just Cheryl Cole herself, maybe her hair or sense of style…LOL…she is so bleh
Jez, British accents do vary. Cheryl’s is a Newcastle accent. Northern England’s accents are very thick and will obviously not sound the same as a London ockney accent for example. But to be fair, it’s not THAT much difficult to understand.
Obviously the accent’s not the main reason. I totally believe the no chemistry with Paula and LA Reid, her lack of credibility as an artist and all round lack of talent.
I’m hoping that it’s because she can’t sing, doesn’t play an instrument and has never written a song in her life and therefore has NO credibility as an artist.
On the other hand, this is just another hack karaoke show we’re talking about, so it’s unlikely that lack of talent would be seen as negative.
I hate when people say Americans can’t understand accents. This is AMERICA, everyone has an accent.
I think Nicole Sherblahbla is dumb as dirt.. she isn’t going to be a good judge. She sucked on the Nick Lachey singing competition.. just kept saying peoples voices sound like sex and hoped that would pass off as a good comment.
@gee LOL I also happen to think thet Nicole is as dumb as a box of rocks. She’s got NO personality whatsoever.
Go The Voice.
English is not my first language and, listening to her, I find her accent very ugly. She’s pretty and kind of ruins it when she opens her mouth 🙂 And I don’t agree with this “I will never change the way I speak”. When you’re on tv, it’s polite to speak in standard language and accent, that’s just my opinion.
I’m not American, I haven’t even set foot on an English-speaking country, English is my second language and I understand her just fine, hell, I might be crucified for this, but I kind of like her accent.
If it’s true that she got fired because of her accent, then I just need to facepalm right through my head. Sure, she’s talentless, sort of vapid and I don’t care about her at all, but DAMN. Wonder if I should ever get to America with my thick accent, should I carry along pencil and paper just in case? Jesus.
I’d rather they’d fired her for something else, like, being a vapid famewhore.
@ Mare: what are you talking about? There’s nothing wrong with her accent! It sounds nice and it’s understandable. I would say that some American accents sound worse (like the weird southern ones) but it’s how the people talk so I have nothing against it. I personally love listening to various UK accents, especially the Scottish ones.
Aha, and I agree that Nicole is the worst choice possible. She’s not a music expert, she’s hardly likeable and will people respect her opinions? I don’t think so.
Discussions on the Geordie accent = hilarious! I had to knock the edges off my London accent to be understood when I moved here – I just got fed up with the confused look everyone gave me when I spoke! Oh, maybe it wasn’t my accent LOL – anyway my family think I have gone all posh!!!
My guess is she got into a bitch fight with Paula Abdul and they told Simon he had to choose …
I think what happened is that she came to the X Factor thinking she was the star, then Paula was all jacked up on alcohol and crazy pills and had a “bitch, please” moment. I’m not sure if there was hair pulling due to the fact it would have been tough to get a grip on that lion hair, but if anyone could it would be Paula.
Paula then drunkenly demanded to Simon that Cole get the boot and Simon obliged, sending her home due to “lack of chemistry”.
Because we know the accent isn’t the problem – I swear half the time I can’t understand Paula.
God forbid we might have to actually listen a little harder for once. If it is true, I find this who attitude about accents just another thing people use to create barriers between themselves and anyone else who is ‘different’.
I think she is absolutely gorgeous. Those dimples are adorable. The have no problem understanding her either. I just dont understand all the hate…
I like her accent. I think she was let go because she isn’t famous enough in America.
I am very evil but very happy she’s no longer doing x-factor USA – if you listen to her interviews before, its ‘all me and simon, we’re the stars, I’m so important…blah de blah de blah’
Cheryl is very pretty (w/o all that make-up on) but she is talentless and didn’t deserve this spot in the first place. How humiliating!
Reason 1: America doesn’t know who Cheryl Cole is, and they don’t really care. And it would take too much money and effort to sell her before she sells the show.
Reason 2: She has been pushed too hard in everyone’s face and everyone got repulsed by the effort.
Reason 3: She lacks that impressive, all consuming charisma.
Reason 4: She is not sexy enough. She is posh but not sexy, actually.
Reason 5: She was never that interesting a judge and personality at the British X Factor anyway.
Reason 2395735069547: HER ACCENT.
I thought American is an accent not English or British. Maybe I am wrong since no American nowadays know when we were founded anymore and though English as our own.
Other than that,I think the reason she is out because she is not famous enough in America, not because of her “accent.”
@duh “Bless it. We’re like you…only prettier,” GraciexSays in my sweet Mississippi drawl. 😉
I like her accent, I adore British accents. Me and my mom both wish we had one. I family have in England and could have moved there eventually had I not moved to Canada. Alas it was not to be. Anyways I think she had a bitch fight with Paula and her ego was too big and thought Simon would have her back. Nicole is not the sharpest knife in the drawer but she’s easy in the eyes, hopefully she’ll stay in her lane or she’ll be canned too
O.M.G! You KNOW this blow is the equivalent to Victoria Beckham losing 20lbs.! I bet you Preggo Posh is doing back flips in overpriced platform stilettos right now. You know American Cheryl knocked 10 years off her life. Now it’s no love for Cheryl, no VOGUE covers for Cheryl, no obligatory fashion lines for Cheryl. NO CHERYL! Back in the cage Tweety.
Ohhhh the poor thing!! I actually really like her, I think she’s so sweet and her accent is lovely. Don’t think her music is anything to write home about, but eh, it’s not like that’s anything new nowadays. Hope she finds work elsewhere soon. Maybe she should join The Voice. At this rate she’s certainly a better choice than Christina; at least she won’t be bladdered to the point of toxicity 24/7 or anything.
Speaking of bladders, too; Paula is nothing more than a tight old shrieking bladder skin herself. She looks and sounds like the inside of a set of bagpipes. I mean, please. She’s the very definition of expendable.
@Ruby I agree, Fox is playing with fire including 2 singing competitions, seems like way too much of the same nonsense.
Cheryl is pretty and her accent is fine, but I agree that alot of Americans don’t know her. Nicole is not a better choice, I’d rather see Leona Lewis on the show instead.
Here’s my theory: Cheryl’s been rumoured to be sleeping with Simon Cowell for a couple of years now. She got to the US, saw how he and Paula (someone else he was rumoured to have slept with) interacted, got jealous, and wanted Paula gone. When that didn’t happen, she either quit or got fired.
She certainly doesn’t wear more make-up than Nicole Scherzinger… So Reason 2 seems a moot point.
Aw, I love the welsh accent. It’s so different from an English one.
excuse me but i think nicole is a pure talent, down to earth person. way way better than being called as a budget kim kardashian. nicole has exotic beauty, fit, generous and a total bombshell.
shes popular in America. Recall her win in Dancing with the Stars.
She sounds Scottish. Either way her audition on popstars shows she’s in no place to judge anyone as its clear she was picked for being pretty
I call BS on the accent thing.
Most Americans think any kind of British accent is really cool. I feel like every dancing show I watch is hosted by a British person!
Reason No 5. is hilarious. In fact the first time i heard of this chick was on dlisted and this was the picture that MK put up…….. omg either she has an incredible sense of humor or she is just pure cheese.
I heard some of the interview that Lainey had up and while her accent is not altogether difficult there are some things she says that would take the average listener a bit of a time to adjust. I agree with the poster above who said its like a muddled Scottish accent, i once worked for a lady with a THICK Scottish accent and despite adapting to it after awhile is wasn’t always easy to understand what she was saying…. there were more than a few miscommunication incidents because i didnt always fully understand her.
YES Americans have accents too, its a big country with lots of regions and the majority of the time we dont understand each other either.
I dont know what Paula is like now but when i met her i was 9 (like 20 years ago) and i took a dance class from her. She was super serious and very professional, we learned the dance to “never going to give him up,” She is(was)such a fantastic dancer!
I did have some trouble understanding her at times but I can tell you one thing about Americans. We adore a british accent, but it has to be the POSH one, the upper class intelligent sounding one. Hers is not it. She sounds like she has rocks in her mouth.
@dee glad to know I’m not alone! Everyone fangirls over her and she seems so simple.
They never should have hired her to begin with middle America wont watch a subtitled show. Her accent is far too thick and so is she. I grew up in the UK and have a hard time understanding her.
Chezza’s too good for America!
Geordie accent? No idea where she’s from but that’s my first thought when I heard the clip above.
Anyone who’s saying Americans just love British accents is really overestimating their fellow countymen and women. We like the formal British accent. The one that sounds like the Queens English. But for the most part, we Americans are xenophobic and ignorant. Middle America doesn’t even want taking a language to be mandatory in public schools (which is so stupid it makes my head spin but that’s a complaint for another day). They made a terrible decision trying to bring Cheryl over. There’s no way most Americans would be okay adjusting to her Geordie accent. We don’t adjust to other people. We want people to adjust to us. American exceptionalism at its finest. Simon Cowell had too much faith in this country, and while I’m sure most CB commenters and readers are progressive enough to appreciate diversity in all it’s forms, the large majority of this country isn’t. It’s full of ignorance and hate of change of difference. It sucks hard Cheryl had to be strung along like that. They never should’ve had her in the first place.
Its it me or does that do-hickey on her dress in the first pic look like an abstract sculpture of a vadge?…Hideous.
On a more serious note, what, exactly, was the purpose of her? Cowell I understand: his show, he’s a producer and these people will probably be signed to his label. But why do we need to go across the sea to find a game show host? It doesn’t make any sense. I think this is more to do with her being irrelevant here. Let’s be honest: she got hired because Cowell liked her. What does that have to do with the audience? Nothing. We have a saturated pool of homegrown talent. We don’t need to import a British Kardashian with 80’s mall hair and a Jerseylicious fashion sense.
Just as an aside to those who aren’t familiar – Geordie accent = Newcastle (upon Tyne) accent = northeastern English accent. Roughly speaking. Just like in the US, different regions have different accents and dialects.
is that cockney? what kind of accent is that? liverpool? WTF? it does sound very scots
I KNEW this would happen! I watched a few interviews with Cheryl on YouTube after her whole divorce “scandal” and her accent (although I think, very pretty) is INCREDIBLY STRONG. She has that sort of Western England, Irish Gaelic sounding thing going on and (as an American at least) it is not easy to understand her unless you try really hard.
To be honest it was for this very reason that I thought there was no way that there was any truth to rumors of her being on X Factor in the beginning. Her sudden “firing” actually makes me wonder if there ever was any. I mean, it’s not like producers didn’t know what she sounded like from day 1. So why all the back and forth??
Oh well. So much for her plans of becoming a “huge” celebrity stateside…not gonna happen. I do feel kind of bad though because of the reason why. It’s not like she can help the way she sounds!
*I bet someone is regretting trying to trade up from her little dancer boyfriend now…* ; D
Or maybe she didn’t look ENOUGH like Kim Kardashian?? *eyeroll*
For all of the hysterics who are trying to turn this into some sort of bigorty/ignorance issue: calm down! Why do certain people always have to go there about EVERYTHING??
This has nothing to do with “xenophobia” but instead common sense. Simon Cowell wants the X Factor to become a huge show. All new shows have a touchy time starting out, and they just won’t get viewers to stick around if they CAN’T UNDERSTAND the people on it (Paula’s bad enough)! Lol.
I personally find Chery’s accent quite beautiful, but it is very very strong. As far as this having to do with us being “bigotted Amercans” or whatever, American actors have been taking dictation classes FOREVER in an attempt to be better recieved to wider audiences: If you want a perfect example of this, just look at Mark Wahlberg and Ben Affleck or Matt Damon losing their very thick Boston accents when they hit it big. They don’t even use them in interviews anymore. Even Angela Kinsey from The Office dropped her thick Southern accent off camera after a few years. No one cried “bigotry” then so, what the h*ll??
It’s not about a “fear” of anything “different” but instead about drawing in and keeping the widest audience. Good grief : /
Wow! Who cares about her accent? She is amazing. One or two episodes should be all it takes even for the most ignorant of people to adjust to the accent.
I like the way she speaks!!!
I’m cosigning with Roma. Cheryl’s been talking the whole time so it’s not like they hadn’t heard her accent. Plus I bet they got focus groups to listen to her before she was hired. It’s Paula Abdul. She thinks she’s all that and a bag of chips. Look at how she manipulated her entrance . . . holding everyone up over her contract. And Cheryl’s 20 years younger than she is AND apparently was sitting next to Daddy. Paula, no doubt about it. And i hope she gets hers.
HA HA HA HA… OMFG.. ha ha ha .. (wipes away tears of laughter).. HA HA!
@Patrice – you really think most Americans would NOT have said “why does she talk funny?” within the first five minutes of hearing her speak?
Like I said before, some of y’all have much more faith in Americans than I do. You say it has to do with reaching a wider audience, essentially being more marketable. So why is she not marketable as is? Because we can’t understand her? Sure it takes a little adjustment, a little getting used to, but she’s speaking English, and most people are able to understand her if they try to. The question is are they willing to? Being marketable is not about what the audience CAN like, but what they WILL like. And the answer is clearly no, otherwise they wouldn’t have fired her. A willingness to meet people half way when it comes to differences, be it in culture or language or whatever, DOES have to do with not fearing change and being open to things that are, no pun intended, foreign. I can guarantee you that Jim Bob Jones in Anytown, USA is not open to meeting Cheryl Cole halfway. Marketability has to do with market acceptance. And the American market is accepting of only a few things NOT “American.” Simon Cowell works because he speaks in a way that we are used to hearing, can readily identify as “British,” and are willing to accept. Most people here don’t even know there IS such a thing as a GEordie accent.
Also – Why hasn’t Cheryl changed her accent to reach a wider Brit audience? If Matt Damon had to tone done the Boston for most Americans, why hasn’t Cheryl toned down the Geordie for most Brits? It’s not a coincidence that she, a UK celeb, has maintained hers and Damon, an American celeb, did not maintain his.
I’m not totally buying the accent being the main reason, my vote goes for bad chemistry with the other judges (cough Paula), and the Simon-Paula reunion being something the producers must think people want to see more than anything. Especially in light of the fact that the host is the very dishy, very Welsh accented Steve Jones (unless they fire him too, which would be America’s loss!)
Does she have a uni-boob or something? Her chest in that first picture looks weird. Anyway, I have no idea who this chick is so this news is no loss to me. Her accent is just fine IMO and I think people are reading too much into this.
it’s not the accent, it’s the awful makeup and tacky clothes!
She looks SO much like shania twain. I like her accent. I don’t know where in Britain she’s from but she sounds british/irish/indian to me.
@waldemera, me too! So happy!
Whomever dreamt up the rumor about the accent is insulting both HER and AMERICA. Cole because they’re acting like there’s some problem with the way she speaks, and America because that’s treating us like morons. She speaks like a normal person, and is perfectly understandable.
#55 Cosign with Patrice. Also, basically no one in America knows who the heck she is! I can see how her accent could be a problem while you’re watching the show, but in real life, I’d like to have it! I knew her by name before anything because she was married to that soccer player Ashley Cole. Personally, I’m glad she’s not a judge on here anymore, no matter what the reason!
The accent is what ruins her, she’s so pretty until she tries to speak hahaha, I read on the DailyMail that even Britons don’t understand her LOL
she was fired bcause of that ridiculous Belt.
If she was booted because of her accent then I think Americans who watch the show should complain to the network and make it clear they do not like them assuming they are idiots who cannot understand someone with a bit of an accent. Then again, I have seen plenty of US documentaries where anyone with the slightest accent gets subtitles so perhaps many people there really cannot understand her. But that would be pretty pathetic.
Or she is just a terrible host. That could also be true, I would not know as I have never watched.
Reason 2:
???????????
Kardashians, Hiltons, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera– all American…
As a nation, America is hardly noted for it’s understated aesthetic refinement. Not saying that the opposite is true, but come on, here…
im as american as you can get and believe it or not i can understand her and it is a scottish/irish accent. in my humble opinion it was cause cheryl likes dark meat and would not do the nasty with producers and or simon
Ba ha ha! Those photo reasons are HILARIOUS! Wow. What a shame, she is such a beautiful woman, if only she would pull back on all the crap she puts in her hair & on her face. I find it enormously funny that they think Americans might not understand her. Stuff like that constantly amazes me – like doing an American remake of an English movie like ‘Death At A Funeral’. Totally unnecessary and ridiculous. Many (not all) Americans wonder why the rest of the world hates them – well I’d say a big reason is that Many (again, not all) Americans make no effort to take in any culture, language, accent, etc that is not their own – even English which is SO close to their own! The fact that words in English language books from countries like England & Australia have to be changed to more “American-friendly” words so that they can understand them (eg: torch to flashlight). Why don’t they just figure it out like the rest of us do when we read a word not commonly used in our own country?? It amazes me how producers, publishers, etc etc are making this problem worse by babying the American public. Oh and, too much make-up? PLEASE! Have you SEEN the Kardashians? One more thing: Nicole S., whom I have met in real life has the most botoxed face I have ever seen. She could barely talk when we met her! The other Pussycat Dolls were warm & chatty and lovely, but she barely spoke and could not even move her cheeks enough to crack a smile. She might have to pull back on the botox for judging duties! Smiling is pretty important for that I hear…
She should of learned how to switch on/off her “Geordie” accent. Actors, entertainers work on their accents, out of respect for the public.
A judge commenting and communicating in front of wide audiences should not need a translator!
As a child i was put aside for my “Parisien” accent, & learnt fast to adapt my accent. Why expect the public to adapt?
Some people just don’t feel bothered to make an effort and try to understand. European people often learn a second or even a third language thus are used to cerebral gymnastics to decipher.
If Americans dont understand her I’d never make it in America(Im South African)