Here’s a strange piece of news. Remember how Lou Reed denied permission for Susan Boyle to sing Perfect Day on America’s Got Talent, essentially causing her to cancel her performance because she hadn’t prepared a different song? Well Lou has made it up to Susan, by allowing her to cover Perfect Day on her upcoming album and by directing the music video for it – her first! Susan’s Perfect Day video was shot in her native Scotland, and Reed explains that it was his idea to highlight the country’s beautiful landscape. The result is pretty haunting when you view the video coupled with Susan’s angelic version of Reed’s classic (above, and a higher quality version is available for US users on Popeater). Here’s more, from Popeater:

Reed’s 1972 classic ‘Perfect Day’ — one of the tracks featured on her new album, ‘The Gift,’ in stores November 9.

Directed by Reed himself, the video was a way of showing support for the Scottish siren after his not-so-favorable reaction over her version of his trademark track in September. Reed says of the project, “I wanted to create a beautiful and intimate piece shot in Susan’s native Scotland and she quickly agreed.” And that’s just what he did. Expect sweeping shots of lush forests and gorgeous sunrises.

Boyle’s second album, ‘The Gift,’ is a seasonal collection of songs including Christmas classics like ‘The First Noel’ and ‘O Holy Night’.’ Boyle herself says the music is meant to “touch hearts.” “Music has always been a companion to me, particularly on special occaisons” Boyle explains. “I wanted there to be a mix of songs that would flow with all our moods this holiday season. As much as the season is a time for reflection, it is also a time for fun and enjoyment with those closest to us.”

[From Popeater]

I give Reed credit for reneging and working with Susan, but you also have to consider the serious amounts of money involved. Boyle’s last album was the 2nd highest seller in 2009, barely getting edged out by Taylor Swift. Her new CD, The Gift, is currently number one on the Amazon music charts. (It just came out on iTunes today in the US so it’s not charting yet.) Reed created a beautiful tribute to Boyle’s music and her gentle personality with this majestic video, but he had some powerful motivation too. He seems to understand that you “reap what you sow” when it comes to working with a talented successful lady like Susan.

Susan Boyle is shown on 10/9/10, credit: Barcroft/Fame Pictures. Lou Reed is shown on 10/7 and 10/5. Credit: WENN.com

Susan performs at 2:20. Interview is at 6:40

Scottish singer Susan Boyle was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show yesterday, where she sang a beautiful version of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream it’s Over” accompanied by a choir. Boyle, whose last album was the best selling CD of 2009, of course shot to fame in the spring of 2009 when she gave a tear-inducing performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” on Britain’s Got Talent. She’s since moved on to fame and riches and has a new CD coming out in early November along with a memoir, The Woman I Was Born to Be. On Oprah, Boyle discussed the terrible bullying she endured as a child, and described how she had her clothing burned, was called names and was “hit around the head.” She said that the real pain was psychological and explained “It made me feel as if nobody loved me. I didn’t really matter, I was just a target. Once you give bullies that power, they’ve really got ahold of you.” She joked that she used to chase after them and fight back, but that the best way to deal with it is to ignore them.

Oprah explained that in the book, Boyle wrote that her “talent for singing was able to silence the bullies and silence the demons inside you.” Boyle said “I had a lot of anxiety inside me. I had a lot of doubt, which I still have at times… what you do is, you do well at something, and you try and gain the respect of somebody, and that’s what I was trying to do as a singer.”

A lot has changed for Susan since she went though that taunting as a kid. She told Oprah “I feel like a princess and I feel loved, and that’s something I didn’t feel when I was younger.”

I’m so happy for Susan’s success and her performance of “Don’t Dream it’s Over” was beautiful. She is one talented lady who achieved astronomical success later in life. It’s heartbreaking to hear how she suffered as a child. Oprah told her to send autographed CDs to her former bullies and to write “how you like me now?” on the notes. All Susan has to do is show up and sing and she puts everyone that made fun of her for being different to shame.

Here’s Susan signing copies of her book in London on 10/16/10. Credit: WENN.com

I didn’t think that I would ever have the opportunity to discuss this here, but stranger things have happened. My admission: I once was a total Velvet Underground obsessive. Like, crazy for Nico, in love with Lou Reed, all of it. At some point I just kind of grew out of it, but if “White Light.White Heat” comes on the radio, all of a sudden I’m back to being 19 years old and smoking weed in my dorm, gushing about my Religious Studies professor (what – he was cool!). And I’ll give this to Lou Reed – unlike rockers of a similar age group, Lou isn’t out there, showing his ass every night. Until this story came along, I don’t think I’d heard any Lou Reed news in years.

So, basically, the story is that Susan Boyle wanted to perform “Perfect Day” on America’s Got Talent. Nevermind that the song is perhaps not the best use of Boyle’s voice – everything but the chorus is basically just said, not sung. Anyway, SuBo isn’t going to sing it – because Lou Reed said “bitch please” and wouldn’t give them permission. Yikes.

TMZ has learned Susan Boyle has left Los Angeles in tears after being snubbed by a songwriter who refused to let her sing one of his hits on “America’s Got Talent.” Susan arrived to L.A. earlier today to perform the song “Perfect Day” on the show.

Sources connected to the show tell TMZ … producers needed permission from the songwriter, Lou Reed — the former lead singer for The Velvet Underground and famous for “Walk on the Wild Side” — but at the last minute they were informed that Reed refused permission because he isn’t a Boyle fan.

When Boyle found out, she dissolved into tears — unprepared to change her tune for the show.

We’re told Boyle went to LAX this afternoon — still in tears — and is catching a flight back to London.

“America’s Got Talent” refused to comment.

[From TMZ]

An insider tells Us Weekly, “The bit about her storming off is not true.” Apparently, Susan was still in her hotel when she learned that Lou Reed refused to give his permission, and Susan was upset because, she “didn’t have any time to prepare anything else, so the whole thing had to be scrapped.” The source continues: “Susan is a very sensitive soul, and she takes her work very seriously…she was very upset about the situation. he knew a lot of fans had flown in especially to watch her perform and felt she had let them down. She was heartbroken and had put so much effort in to this performance. It’s a real shame.” Poor Susan. I understand why Lou Reed did it, I guess – he wrote the song, it’s his call, and he said no. But disrespecting Susan Boyle is like punching a kitten.

I think this is a very interesting choice for People Magazine, to put Susan Boyle on the cover and openly question her sanity. This is after People made some questionable choices with their Kate Gosselin and Heidi Montag covers – so are they trying to appeal to a different demographic with a SuBo cover? Or is this a real question to ask – is SuBo too crazy for the level of fame she’s achieved? Her family seems to think so. They spoke to People, and the portrait they paint of SuBo is rather sad:

After performing at Italy’s Sanremo music festival on Feb. 16, Susan Boyle told an adoring audience, “Dreams have no expiry date. I’d like this to go on and on.”

But at what cost?

Two of her brothers are now voicing concerns for her well-being and speaking out about her ability to handle the pressure of global stardom.

“The traveling and the whole [fame] thing is exhausting. She still has her anxieties and her loneliness,” her brother Gerry tells PEOPLE in the latest cover story.

Her other brother, John, is even more blunt: “She needs 24-hour care. She needs to be looked after.”

To ease her fears following a break-in at her home last month, Boyle, 48 – who lived with her mother until she died in 2007 – makes late-night calls to her family and friends, and her management installed 24-hour security outside her home.

And when that’s not comforting enough, “She knows she can come up to me anytime,” says her longtime friend Lorraine Campbell. “If she’s upset, she’ll stay the night. Security would bring her up to my house. I take her home in the morning. Susan stayed with me a week ago. Nighttime is a lonely time for her.”

[From People]

Well… see, I don’t know. Yes, I think SuBo isn’t like other people. Some people will call her crazy, some people will say that she’s “slow”. But I just think of her as different, as eccentric, as odd. Maybe she does get really scared and nervous and upset when she’s alone in her house. You know what? I do too, sometimes. As far as the “24 hour care” comment by her brother… well, really? Was she under 24 hour care before she got famous? No. So why now?

And besides all that, there are plenty of highly-functioning crazy people in the entertainment business. For my money, someone like Tom Cruise is more batsh-t insane than SuBo. Where’s Xenu’s People cover?

People Magazine cover courtesy of CoverAwards.

Adam Lambert isn’t too pleased with the woman who kept his debut CD, For Your Entertainment, from reaching number one on the sales charts this holiday. Lambert had some bitchy things to say about the quality of Scottish underdog Susan Boyle’s CD, I Dreamed A Dream. The 28 year-old American Idol runner up told Gay Times that Boyle’s CD was “terrible” and that her cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” was so bad it made him laugh uncontrollably:

But weeks later, Adam answered his critics when For Your Entertainment sold 200,000 copies in its first week on sale, charting above new releases from Rihanna and Lady Gaga, albeit outsold by a certain Scottish lassie…

“I know, if only it weren’t for Susan Boyle!” Adam laughs. “I’m happy for her success, but that album is terrible. Wild Horses is the one that made me laugh the hardest. I just died when I heard it, I was crying with laughter. It was the most horrendous, sacrilegious treatment of that song!

“Still, when my album charted, it was validating. I was feeling bit attacked, like I had to vindicate something. I thought: ‘Wow, look what I did.’”

[From Gay Times]

“Terrible,” “Horrendous,” and “Sacriligious?” It sounds like someone is so afraid of competition that they have to put down the musical efforts of a fellow reality show contestant runner up. Susan’s type of music might not be Lambert’s cup of tea, but it’s petty to resort to nasty criticism.

Meanwhile Lamber is still harping on the negative response to his outrageous performance at the American Music Awards, which featured a same sex kiss between Adam and his keyboard player, simulated oral sex on Adam from a female dancer, Adam grabbing his privates, and flipping the bird. He previously called the response “discrimination” because he was a gay male, and in his interview in Gay Times he goes on to say that they’re so much more enlightened in Europe and in the UK and that he wouldn’t have had the fallout that he faced in the states.

“It catches me off guard,” he admits, recalling the AMA nightmare. “In my circle, and in a lot of the underground clubs and performance spaces in Los Angeles nobody thinks twice about it, they love it. Then I gave what I thought was a harmless performance and everybody jumps down my throat about it. And I’m like ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise it was going to be that big a deal.’”

Hostility escalated when the (actually ace) cover of Adam’s space-themed debut album leaked days later. On it, Adam’s brave sense of style is epitomized – he appears in full make up, with electric blue hair and a pout to rival Victoria Beckham’s, looking like a character from the 80s movie Tron. And if a female artist had pulled the exact same pose…

“…With the soft focus, and the retouching,” he agrees, “nobody would have said a word. I’m glad you like it, but you’re the minority. Here in the States a lot of people are really uncomfortable with it, which is hilarious.

But Tron is a great movie!

“I just think you guys in the UK are way further ahead in terms of tolerance,” he adds. “It’s really interesting. In the UK and in Europe proper, it’s less of an issue because people are more comfortable with their sexualities And not just the gay thing, but even playful things, like the concept of androgyny. That is something that generally many Americans are uncomfortable with. Mixing masculine and feminine stereotypes together and playing with it, people get suspicious about it.”

[From Gay Times]

Yes, it’s all the American’s fault for having stricter standards for what they allow on broadcast television. I agree that some of that is unnecessary and that after living in Europe I have a different outlook on nudity and what should be on TV. As I mother I don’t mind my son seeing natural nudity or men or women kissing but I absolutely draw the line at simulated sex. Frankly I’m glad they do have standards for what can be shown along with a rating system. (Some of the crap on TV in Germany is way over the top. I wish my five year-old had never been exposed to a guy farting on a talent show with his ass cheeks exposed. Don’t get me started on the soft core phone crap they show at night.)

It’s very short sighted to say that Americans are somehow uncomfortable with gender bending due to the reaction to his album cover. That’s Adam for you, turning legitimate criticism into other people’s issue while cutting down someone he should be gracious towards. If he didn’t like Boyle’s album he could have just said it wasn’t his taste. He’s going to alienate even more people with these latest quotes.

The Daily Mail has some incredibly bitchy, rude comments that Susan Boyle’s idol, Elaine Paige, made about Susan’s rise to success and talent. Susan of course mentioned Elaine Page, known as the queen of musical theater in the UK, as the singer she emulated during her audition on Britain’s Got Talent. Paige was previously very supportive of Boyle. She made an surprise appearance on the Today Show last July to congratulate Boyle and even performed a duet with her for the British TV special “I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story.” The claws are out now, though, and Paige is incredibly dismissive of Boyle, her singing ability, and her massive rise to fame. Jealousy is not an attractive trait:

Miss Paige, who boasts 40 years in showbusiness and a £12million fortune, has haughtily dismissed the instant success of the Britain’s Got Talent runner-up as ‘a virus that swept the world’.

When asked if she was happy about what the 48-year-old Scottish spinster had achieved, Miss Paige replied: ‘I don’t particularly feel any pride for her – I’m sure she is proud of what she has done.’

Speaking at the South Bank Awards, she added: ‘It’s all about turning someone into an immediate celebrity at the expense of longevity and working hard and experience.

‘Susan Boyle is doing terribly well considering she literally came to the attention of the world overnight with the advent of YouTube.

‘She was like a virus really that spread across the world in a nanosecond.

‘She is a girl with no experience of anything to do with theatrics, the music business, or art in any way.

‘She has done terribly well to be a major star overnight with YouTube.’

But Miss Boyle’s popularity on the Internet has translated into three million album sales, making I Dreamed A Dream the fastest selling debut album for a female artist.

She also has a huge following in the U.S.

Asked if she thought her success would last, Miss Paige replied: ‘That’s a good question. She is a major star because of YouTube. Longevity is gained through knowledge, experience and effort so it will remain to be seen.

‘When I started, YouTube didn’t exist but even then with 15 years of experience prior to my success with Evita it was difficult, so I admire the way she handled her sudden success.

‘Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor just take a bunch of people from real life who think they can sing and try and turn them into overnight “stars” with a couple of songs.

‘Ha ha. It’s not entertainment.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Paige has responded to these quotes, which she claims were taken out of context. The Daily Mail can really warp and twist people’s words, so that’s entirely possible. It doesn’t sound like she’s denying saying this at all, just that she’s saying it wasn’t as harsh as it seems. It sounds like backtracking to me. Here’s Paige’s response from her Facebook page. (Incidentally, her website launches her version of “I Dreamed a Dream.”)

“I was dismayed to read the remarks attributed to me today in the Daily Mail which were incomplete and misinterpreted.

I am a huge supporter of Susan Boyle and admire what she has achieved; she has handled the extraordinary situation of being catapulted to worldwide stardom with tremendous strength, charm and dignity and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her on the ITV special we recorded together only last month.

I have always said it’s very hard for someone to be fast-tracked to stardom without any prior experience – I know this as it happened to me when ‘Evita’ opened and I found it extremely difficult in the beginning; today, of course, it’s much harder with the phenomenon of the internet – Facebook, YouTube etc – it seems it only takes minutes for fame to spread around the world – and that’s why I used the word ‘virus’! I wasn’t referring to Susan herself; I was referring to the speed of her fame spreading as fast as a worldwide viral marketing campaign.”

[From Elaine Paige's Facebook]

Susan received a rumored $10 million advance for her CD, and she had the top selling music album on Amazon this entire holiday season. Her album is still number two on Amazon’s charts and has been on the charts for 150 days. She’s raking in the dough, and Paige might resent the fact that Boyle has earned more money in months than she has in years. This is a simple lady who doesn’t deserve to be trashed for her success. I understand that Boyle can sometimes be grumpy and a pain to deal with – she’s having some trouble coping with the pressure and demands of fame – but she has a beautiful singing voice and real talent. If Paige did say these things – taken out of context or not – t’s a shame that she would be so convinced of her own self worth that she can’t see the value in others.

In related news, Boyle received a shock when she returned to her modest home in Scotland and found a teenage intruder. She said she’s not going to move, though and that “I think he got more of a scare than I did because he ran off.”

Well, I didn’t expect this. It seems Lady Gaga is a huge Susan Boyle fan. Not only does Gaga think the world of SuBo, Gaga is also interested in doing a duet with the woman The Sun refers to as “the hairy angel”. Which is insulting, right? So Susan has a little mustache. She’s still a star! Now everyone has to be plucked, tucked and sucked. Anyway, Gaga declares that SuBo is her pick for “woman of the year” and although their “styles are different” Gaga is totally open to a collaboration. Mother of…!

ONE person I didn’t expect to buy into the SUBO dream was eccentric pop star LADY GAGA. The hairy angel’s rags to riches story has won her hordes of celebrity fans including DEMI MOORE, OPRAH WINFREY and even US president BARACK OBAMA.

Now it turns out Lady G is a Susan Boyle supporter too. And as crackers as this sounds, she’s not ruling out a GaGa/SuBo collaboration.

The Poker Face singer said: “I love Susan Boyle. She is my woman of the year. She has achieved more in this year than most artists will in a lifetime. This time last year nobody even knew who she was and now she is knocking the world’s most established artists off the album and singles charts. Our styles are different. I don’t know if we could work together, but never say never. It would be great to work with somebody of that talent.”

The double act could be known as GaBo – or SuGa.

The unusual pair would have one thing in common, both are absolutely bonkers. I just hope SuBo doesn’t go on to adopt GaGa’s unique dress sense.

It’s bad enough watching the American star prancing around in her PVC pants. But the thought of a pair on the Highland lassie with the big chassis is enough to put me off my dinner.

GaGa reckons she has followed Susan’s success since the beginning and loves to watch the video of her first Britain’s Got Talent audition.

She said: “I have watched the clip of her singing on BGT a thousand times and every time I see SIMON COWELL’s face it makes me laugh out loud. He thinks he knows everything but even he wasn’t expecting that.”

Both GaGa and SuBo have high-profile gigs to bring in the New Year tomorrow. Lady G is being paid £200,000 to perform at the swanky Fontainebleau hotel in Miami, while Susan will be singing on Japan’s biggest TV music show, Kohaku Uta Gassen.

[From The Sun]

At first I thought this interview with Gaga might be fake, but it looks authentic. Gaga really is SuBo’s biggest fan, bless her heart. Does SuBo have a big gay following? She will if Gaga gets her hands on her. And yes, the idea of Susan Boyle in one of Gaga’s get-ups is hysterical.

Lady Gaga performing in LA on December 23, 2009. Credit: Aaron D. Settipane/WENN.com. Susan Boyle performing in France on December 9, 2009. Credit: WENN.

Remember how Susan Boyle was asked by Simon Cowell during her “Britain’s Got Talent” audition who she aspired to be as successful as and she said Elaine Paige? The crowd kind of moaned and the video cut to a lady mouthing “Elaine Page” and shaking her head incredulously. Then Susan started to sing and the crowd – and world – was captivated. Page is known as the queen of musical theater in the UK and has a career that spans over 40 years.

Now Susan has the number one album and chart-topping success to rival her idol. She also had the chance to meet Elaine Page during a visit to The Today Show in July. Boyle was recently surprised by a visit from Paige again, during a taping of British TV special “I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story.” The two performed an impromptu duet to Paige’s “I Know Him So Well.”

As if a hit album and worldwide adoration weren’t enough – Susan Boyle has achieved her dream of singing with her musical idol.

The Scottish singer, 48, looked overcome with joy as she teamed up with Elaine Paige to sing the latter’s hit duet I Know Him So Well.

The pairing was kept secret from Miss Boyle until shortly before the performance, which was for a TV special that charts her rise to fame this year.

Afterwards, the Britain’s Got Talent runner-up said: ‘I never thought I would see myself standing on the same stage with such an icon from West End theatre, let alone singing with her as an equal.’

Miss Paige added: ‘It was a pleasure to finally sing with Susan, she was a delight to work with and I think we more than did justice to one of my favourite songs.’

The Scottish singer has previously admitted singing along to Paige’s music, alone, in front of her bedroom mirror, equipped with a hairbrush for a microphone.

[From The Daily Mail]

I looked for the video of this and found out that the special doesn’t air on British TV until this Sunday, December 13. There’s something so disarming about Boyle and you can understand why her album is such a best seller. She’s the ultimate underdog with the silver voice, discovered late in life and given a chance to shine. We’re still listening to you Susan, and seeing your success helps us dream our our own dreams. (Yes that was cheesy as hell, but I watched her damn audition video for the twentieth time and got all teary-eyed again.)

There are also cute videos on YouTube of Susan answering fan-submitted questions. In some videos she gets kind of flustered and her accent is so heavy at times I had trouble understanding her. Here’s a link to a video of Susan briefly talking about the Britain’s Got Talent tour. (There are more videos of Susan answering fan questions to the right under the “related videos” column.)

Susan Boyle performed for a full half hour this morning on The Today Show. She’s the first singer who’s only released a debut CD to be invited to sing on the show for so long. People lined up hours ahead of time in the cold morning for a chance to hear Boyle belt out her songs.

A huge crowd stood in the New York morning chill, cell phones and camcorders held before misty eyes to record a simple woman dressed in simple clothes singing familiar songs in a voice that penetrated deep into the spirit. Susan Boyle, seven months removed from her now legendary debut on “Britain’s Got Talent,” is no longer the shy and dowdy woman who walked on the stage that fateful night to smirks and sneers — and left to a thunderous standing ovation.

“I’ve grown up a bit. I’ve become more of a lady. I don’t swivel my hips as much, you know?” Boyle told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Monday before unleashing her extraordinary pipes on the crowd waiting for her in Rockefeller Plaza. The 48-year-old Scottish woman who was taunted and beaten as a child now laughs easily a herself and remains humbled and awed by her own fame. Never before had an artist releasing a debut album been invited to sing for a full half-hour on TODAY. Until Boyle.

On Monday, the product of that triumph, her 12-song debut CD, went on sale. Even before it hit the stores, it was already the biggest advance CD seller in the history of Amazon.com. This year alone, Boyle has sold more advance copies than U2, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay and the Dixie Chicks. Eleven of the songs on the album are covers and one is original. They are not all show tunes, but they are all soulful, including a rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” in a style much different than Mick Jagger could ever have imagined.

Boyle also sings a Madonna tune, “You’ll See,” that she said is her answer to the teachers who beat her regularly with a belt and the classmates who so cruelly taunted her when she was growing up. “That was a statement I was trying to make, because I was bullied a lot at school: ‘You may have done that to me when I was younger, but you can’t do it to me anymore. I’m grown up now,’ ” Boyle explained softly.

[From MSNBC]

Susan really has shown everyone. And despite all the people who tormented her in her youth, it seems that from the moment she sang her first note on “Britain’s Got Talent,” everyone’s been behind her. Her singing was just absolutely phenomenal this morning. The power of this woman’s voice is truly incredible. And it’s only made more so by her story. The entire interview with Susan will be aired on Thanksgiving, as part of Matt Lauer’s “People of the Year” special. I know some people are still suffering from Susan Boyle fatigue, but I’ve got to admit I’m still moved whenever I hear her sing.

Images thanks to WENN.com .

Last week, Sharon Osbourne appeared on The Opie & Anthony Show, and she ended up bashing Susan Boyle. Sharon said Boyle was “hit with the f-cking ugly stick… I like everybody to do well. Even somebody that looks like a slapped arse. God bless her. It’s like, ‘You go girl’. She does look like a hairy arsehole. She is a lovely lady. You just want to say ‘god bless’ and here’s a Gillette razor.” Harsh, yes? Mean? Obnoxious? Of course. It’s made worse, I think, by the assumption/fact that Boyle isn’t totally… with it. Is that the nice way of saying it? I don’t think Susan Boyle is handicapped, she just seems to be a bit eccentric, and maybe not too bright. It felt like Sharon Osbourne was picking on the slow kid. In any case, Sharon has now apologized for her comments:

Sharon Osbourne has apologized for saying that Britain’s Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle was hit by “the ugly stick.”

Last month, Osbourne, 57, appeared on Sirius XM Radio’s The Opie & Anthony Show and was asked about Boyle. She cracked, “You just want to say God bless and here’s a Gillette razor.”

But on her Twitter page this week, Osbourne changed her tune.

“Susan Boyle is a lovely gracious woman and I took advantage of that by poking fun at her,” she wrote. “I would never want to be responsible for hurting Susan and I must apologize for getting a cheap laugh at her expense.”

Boyle, 47, is set to release her first album, I Dreamed A Dream, Nov. 24

[From Us Weekly]

Yeah, if you’re going to apologize for something like that, it’s best to just fall on your sword completely. I hope Sharon sent Boyle a little gift or something, because Sharon’s original comments crossed the line into cruelty. Plus, it’s not like Sharon is God’s beautiful gift, either.

Here’s Sharon Osbourne at the Billboard Legend of Live Award on November 5, 2009. Credit: Patricia Schlein/ WENN.com. Susan Boyle is photographed in a fabulous pink coat, signing autographs outside the London Studios on November 3, 2009. Credit: Fame.