Idol Thoughts Inaugural Person of the Day: Simon Cowell

Idol Thoughts Person of the Day is a new daily feature that identifies one person I am currently diggin'. This could be anyone -- it could be a singer, actor, politician or none of the above, but it will be someone who has done something noteworthy, someone I have fond memories of, or simply someone that I like and want to write about.



The inaugural Person of the Day is...Simon Cowell!

There are a number of reasons Simon could qualify as Idol Thoughts Person of the Day (the fact that American Idol would be far less entertaining without him is obviously at the top of that list), but he grabs the title today for not being afraid to speak his mind. No, I'm not talking about his brutally honest critiques of the American Idol contestants, I am talking about his inability to censor himself when he is talking about the show in the media. Most entertainers who have millions and millions of dollars riding on them hedge their bets when speaking candidly about their projects -- not Simon! He says what he wants, when he wants to, and you gotta love him for that.

Thanks to USA Today, here are a few examples of thoughts he has expressed in the past week:

On Melinda Doolittle's elimination last week:
"When you allow the public to choose, you've got to live and die by the vote. I didn't agree with the vote. More people should have dialed for Melinda -- it's as simple as that. It just didn't seem fair to me, so I felt for her. There's nothing much you can say... 'You sang better than anybody else, you gave it 100% every week, you're not in the final.' It didn't seem right."

On host Ryan Seacrest and apparently on-camera tension:
"It's rather like having a silly little dog who likes to jump up on your lap, and you just swat the dog off. And occasionally in a very stern voice you have to say 'No.' That's how I deal with Ryan."

On Sanjaya Malakar:
"I like crazy. I would never want to be in a situation where we cast the 12 (finalists) as just normal people, because I think it would be boring. The (judging) panel is wacky enough, and therefore I think the contestants should be as strange as well. I quite like that, and I thought the whole Sanjaya thing was hysterical. I'm happy now because he's out. I don't think I'd be happy if he was in the finals... Looking back, I thought it was quite amusing."

On Taylor Hicks:
"I was talking to someone about this the other day and I was saying, 'Don't confuse talent with popularity because actually this is a talent show.' No one listened to me at the time, and they all laughed at me last year. I remember saying that he's not the best person we've had enter. He's just the most popular."

On Kelly Clarkson and her upcoming album:
"Kelly is not a puppet; she does not like to be told what to do. She... made it absolutely clear that she wanted to steer the musical direction on this record. You (the record company) just gotta say, 'You know what? This girl has given us millions and millions of sales.' You've got to give her that opportunity... Because Kelly will be here for 30 years. She has one of the best pop voices in the world right now."
How can you not love honesty like that? Congrats, Simon, on being the first Idol Thoughts Person of the Day!