Britain’s Got Talent: Simon Cowell calls in police over fixing claims

Cowell’s lawyers report offence of ‘malicious communication’ after blogger alleges finalist Ronan Parke groomed for stardom Simon Cowell has called in police over claims that his ITV1 series Britain’s Got Talent is fixed. Cowell’s lawyers reported an offence of “malicious communication” after an anonymous internet blogger alleged that Ronan Parke, the favourite to win the current series of the hit show, had been groomed for stardom after being spotted by talent scouts two years ago. The blogger claimed the 12-year-old, who is in tomorrow’s final, had been known to Cowell’s company, Syco, already has a management deal and had been specifically moulded to appeal to the show’s audience. Syco and Sony Music said they would take legal action to “prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations”. Syco said in a statement: “There has been speculation on the internet that Britain’s Got Talent finalist Ronan Parke was known to and worked with Syco/Sony Music before entering the show. There is no truth in this story whatsoever. “Ronan first came to Syco/Sony’s attention when he entered this year’s competition. “Syco/Sony Music will not hesitate to take whatever legal action is appropriate to prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations.” Lawyers acting for Cowell made the complaint at a police station in west London on Thursday. It is not yet known if officers will take any action. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “An allegation of malicious communications was made to Kensington and Chelsea police on Thursday June 2. “The allegation is being considered.” The schoolboy won the viewers’ vote on Monday, putting him straight through to the Saturday show. Ronan’s mother Maggie also dismissed the claims that he was auditioned by talent scouts who had spotted him performing at a birthday party for family friend Bryan Gunn, the former Norwich City goalkeeper. “It’s laughable, to be perfectly honest with you, and it couldn’t be further from the truth,” she told BBC Radio Norfolk. “There’s no foundation in it whatsoever.” The allegations come at the end of a difficult few weeks for Cowell in which Cheryl Cole was axed from the US version of The X Factor and Dannii Minogue quit as a judge on the UK version of the show. It was later confirmed that Cole would not be returning to the UK show either. The resulting media coverage will have done nothing to dent ratings for the show, with the first live semi-final this week watched by an average of 10.9 million viewers, marginally up on last year’s equivalent show, peaking with 13 million. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook Simon Cowell Britain’s Got Talent Television Entertainment John Plunkett guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 3, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.