Friday, September 14, 2007

Baby blues: X Factor dump pregnant woman

Lovers of Victoriana will be delighted to hear that an almost entirely-preserved Victorian Attitude has been discovered in Simon Cowell's permafrost: X Factor tryout Katie Boothand has been kicked off the show because she was pregnant:

With Dannii Minogue the only one to say "no", the 24-year-old was stunned to learn she has got through to the next stage, but after she leaving the room, the panel had doubts.

Cowell said: "A part of me thinks we shouldn't have just done that because she's five and a half months pregnant. That should have been a 'no'. It doesn't feel right, I'm almost inclined to change my mind now."

Louis Walsh agreed, and Minogue says: "I've got nothing against pregnant women but you can't be singing on live TV and giving birth at the same time."

We love the "I've nothing against pregnant women but..." - it's not that Louis Walsh comes over all squeamish at the thought of vaginas and blood and babies and breathing, oh no. Not at all.

Isn't there, you know, some sort of rule about discriminating against women because they're pregnant?


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Except that according to the quote, it was Dannii Minogue that used the "I don't have anything against pregnant women but....." line, not Louis Walsh.

Anonymous said...

"Isn't there, you know, some sort of rule about discriminating against women because they're pregnant?"

Yes, it's general known as "common sense".

Lord knows how long this X factor rubbish drags out for, what with the follow-up of the winner and all...so it'd be incredibly bad business sense (because the X factor is ultimately a business opportunity for Cowell et al) to employ someone (the winner/winners) who may become incapacitated or unavailable just at the time you need them to be working hard at promoting their new career and making you ££££££££££££££££.

See?

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

p to p: you're right, that was Minogue rather than Walsh


anon: But that makes it worse rather than better: if you see the X Factor as a job interview for a position in his empire, then refusing an interview to a woman on the grounds that she's pregnant is actually illegal, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

she has a great voice but x factor was completly ryt. she cant sing while shes lyk 8 months pregnant she myt think shes coping with the pressure but it coul really damage the babies health.

Anonymous said...

I hope that man in the red shirt who growls "Yer talkin' st-stupid!" has been paid repeat fees for every time they've used his clip in 'Coming Up' montages. He's been on screen more often than captions explaining how to reclaim fraudulent phone-in charges this last month.

Mikey said...

I can't help thinking that her tattoos, demeanour and dentition (and that of her foulmouthed hoodrat boyfriend) rather suggested that she wouldn't just be giving birth to a squalling baby halfway through the live final as to a congenitally addicted crack baby.

X Factor like to flag up a nice 'human' story, but I don't think skunk-addled benefit spongers would really send the right message to the ITV advertising demographic

Anonymous said...

Good to finally see this clip last night. My favourite bit was after the rejection, when the pregnant girl's partner showed his devoted caring side by marching off up the corridor several angry paces ahead of her, flung the door open, looked back, realised she was still a few feet away, and so carried on and let the door slam shut again.

Who said chivalry was dead?

Mikey said...

Exactly. I think Cowell realised he'd dodged a bullet when he saw that footage back & realised what an Asda K-Fed the boyfriend would have been

Anonymous said...

Of course it's not illegal, you daft tit.

It's not a JOB they're competing for, is it? It's a recording contract (actually, at this stage, 'the chance to win a recording contract'). So normal hiring rules and regulations have nothing to do with anything. The judges have the right to reject people on whatever grounds they choose.

If they're already rejecting people on grounds of age, appearance, vocal ability and personality, why not reject someone on the basis that they have an obvious conflict of priorities?

Unknown said...

I completely agree with Dnnii!!! And it's not discriminating! If she ended up leaving the show half way through to give birth, or, god forbid, end up giving birth on stage in front of all thoes people you'd all be complaining that they let her on the show! I'm sorry but you can't put a 5 month pregnant woman through on a competition like X factor!!! You just can't!!!

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