Simon Cowell Sparks Criticism for 'Out of Touch' Claim

Simon Cowell is being criticized online for claiming that currently, there is no "megastar boy band," with many saying his comment ignores the success of K-pop group BTS.

Cowell is the record executive behind One Direction, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. Now he has revealed he is on the hunt for the next hit group and will be holding open auditions across the U.K. to find its members.

"Every generation deserves a megastar boy band and I don't think there has been one to have the success of One Direction in over 14 years. The industry tends to focus on solo artists—so it usually takes someone from outside to put a group together," he said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone.

Now people online are slamming Cowell for the comment, pointing to the success of BTS, who are the most-streamed group in Spotify's history and one of the most successful acts in Billboard chart history.

Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Cowell to comment on Thursday.

The seven-piece South Korean group behind hits such as "Fake Love" and "Dynamite" first appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017, with six of their songs going all the way to No. 1. Comparatively, One Direction never had a No.1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart but in the U.K., the boy band has had four No. 1 hits.

People have taken to a Reddit thread to express their disagreement with Cowell's statement, with one person writing: "I legit was saying that Kpop has been around before 1D and they've clearly broken into the U.S. mainstream in the last few years. It is erasure."

While this comment implies otherwise, both One Direction and BTS were formed in 2010. However, BTS didn't debut until June 12, 2013.

"Can't believe I'm gonna say this but I side with the kpop fans on this one. even if he was just specifying boybands from the west it completely ignores the global stranglehold kpop has on pop culture lol especially with bigger groups like BTS," someone else commented.

"I'm not gonna start saying BTS this or kpop that but in an increasingly globalized world, it's clear that he still doesn't see what makes BTS special or what made One Direction special back in the day (the idea of putting the 5 guys together was Nicole Scherzinger's so even their creation wasn't his idea lol)," said another.

A fourth person added: "What an out of touch old hag."

It is not only on Reddit where people have shared their thoughts, as others have taken to X, formerly Twitter.

"this is hilarious because a lack of boyband omnipresence is, like, an entirely western viewpoint," one person wrote. "guys just get into kpop or jpop or latin music or.

"there are bigger questions about whether the climate that incubated one direction's ubiquitous fandemonium can even exist in 2024 when we don't really have a monoculture anymore. but to say there ~hasn't been a group as successful~ is literally bonkers lmao."

Someone else added: "I'm not even saying this as a stan, how oblivious and ignorant do you have to be to not see bts as being ... dare I say above one directions level of popularity. Lmao."

All members of BTS have enlisted for military service, a requirement for all able-bodied South Korean men aged 18-28. Through being awarded South Korea's Hwagwan Orders of Cultural Merit, the group postponed their military service until they were 30.

No set date has been announced for their return but in 2022, the band's management said they would reunite "around 2025," as reported by Yahoo.

BTS isn't the only successful K-pop band. In 2022, the K-pop industry generated over $5 billion, per CBS News, thanks to groups such as BIGBANG, BLACKPINK and Seventeen.