Simon Cowell’s knack for spotting talent nearly veered into NSFW territory.
The famously sharp-tongued judge first entered our homes via “American Idol,” and despite the years — and countless eye rolls — he’s managed to maintain a following that sticks with him to this day.
But with fame comes fan encounters, and for Cowell, not all of them involve heartfelt thank-yous or selfies.
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On a Thursday episode of the “How To Fail With Elizabeth Day,” Cowell shared one particularly eyebrow-raising fan interaction that even he found hard to believe.
“What do people ask you to say to them when they meet you in the street?” the host asked.
Simon Cowell on the red carpet for the premiere of "America's Got Talent" Season 20 on March 26 in Pasadena, California.
Gilbert Flores via Getty Images
Cowell confessed that strangers would approach him and ask him if he could be “rude to them.”
“I mean literally, they would come up and say, you know, particularly in America, ‘Will you be rude to me?’” Cowell recalled.
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While Cowell says he generally declines those strange requests, one fan encounter went above and way beyond. While dining at a restaurant he was approached by a man who introduced his wife, gushed about Cowell’s work, asked for a photo, and then casually dropped this little lewd gem: “Would you judge us having sex?”
At first, Cowell presumed it was a joke, but alas, he was wrong. The man was dead serious. And to sweeten the deal, he even offered to pay Cowell for the honor. He recalled it was “a lot of money” — to the tune of $150,000, according to the competition judge.
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