Simon Cowell Appears On ‘Fresh Air’

‘American Idol’ judge Simon Cowell was on NPR’s ‘Fresh Air’ with Terry Gross to discuss the third season of the reality show and his new book, ‘Simon Cowell: I Don’t Mean to Be Rude, But…’ Simon says he loves the idea of giving someone 15 minutes of fame and then taking it away. He says that the show works because of its imperfections, pointing out Clay Aiken’s ghastly ‘Grease’ performance, and that transvestite titled movie disaster — ‘From Justin to Kelly.’ Cowell went into some detail on the hiring of Paula Abdul and how it created tension between the two — but he actually does like her. He blasted ‘American Juniors’ as “dreadful” saying he has nothing to do with the program, pointing out Michael Jackson as one of the pitfalls of entering the music industry without giving them a chance to grow up normally. Listen to the 26-minute interview here.