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Simon Cowell won’t be appearing as a judge on the upcoming season of “X Factor Israel”.
A rep for Israel’s Reshet television network, which produces “X Factor Israel”, confirmed to Variety that Cowell is pulling out of the show “for his own reasons.”
Previously, the “America’s Got Talent” star signed on to be one of the judges on the show’s next season, with taping set to take place this summer.
Reshet’s “The X Factor Israel” will return to screens across Israel next year with a brand new but familiar face on the judging panel: Simon Cowell. https://t.co/oH6D6qrB2s
— Variety (@Variety) December 23, 2020
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Rumours began swirling last week that Cowell was looking to cancel his participation.
The Reshet rep told Variety that members of Cowell’s team had reached out to the network to share Cowell’s “legitimate concerns” in the wake of the recent violence in Gaza,
Last week, Jewish News reported Cowell had made the decision to sit out “X Factor Israel”.
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“Simon won’t be going to Israel after all,” said an anonymous source at the time. “I know it has already been announced that he was one of the judges, but for a number of reasons he just can’t be there in Israel to film the show now. Of course he is bitterly disappointed — but it was a decision he had to take.”