The Pop Corporation

“No-one’s going to read this”. That’s what Louis Walsh said of the hugely popular and brilliant book about pop music, written by pop superfan and oracle, Michael Cragg. To most pop fans, this wasn’t especially surprising, because there’d always been something off about Walsh according to anyone who had eyes and ears.

He’s back in the news currently, because he’s been running his mouth off on Celebrity Big Brother. Ever the shrug there’s no such thing as bad press what? what did I say? I’m just telling it like it is! shrug shrug what?! gobshite, Walsh called poppers Jedward “vile.”

“They were vile… but they were great. I got five million quid for them, I swear on my mother’s life… but they were vile. But they were novelty, it was great for the show, and it was all about the show.”

Of course, Jedward were something of a novelty act, but it’s obvious in the years that have passed since they were on The X Factor, that the siblings are just about as wholesome as you can get and, rather than becoming a joke, have had something of a renaissance, speaking freely and with their hearts, and winning a lot more love and justifiably.

They hit back at Walsh, because fuck that guy right? They tweeted:

“Louis Walsh is a cold-hearted bastard who didn’t even send us flowers when our mom died. Louis Walsh Bitched and talked about us to our best friend Tara Reid and then we fired him!”

They added: “Louis Walsh is an evil manipulator who forced us into an office to pay £70k+ to from our bank account to one of his own PR workers”.

“Louis Walsh tried to make us sign our name and life away in dodgy contracts to people he was great friends with without our mom we wouldn’t be here today! What an absolute weirdo with bad intentions for all ..does he like anyone? Louis reopened these wounds all by himself being spiteful and disrespectful we aren’t going to have our character taken. Justice will be served.”

“Girls aloud hate Louis! Jedward hate Louis! Ronan Keating hates Louis! All future acts should be made aware of what this VILE man is really like.”

Speaking of Ronan Keating, Walsh flatly stated “He hasn’t had a hit record since I left. He sacked me.” However, an old interview has shown up where Keating was speaking with biographer Rob McGibbon in 2006. Ronan said: “He [Walsh] hurt me, he really hurt me and he knows it. I don’t have any time for the guy. We’re a million miles from each other. I don’t have any respect for Louis, because he has none for me. He was very jealous of me. I had to sack him because he wouldn’t manage me. He’s a very selfish character. It’s bullshit man. He’s a bullshitter.”

In addition to all this, former X Factor contestant Katie Waissel tweeted: “[Jedward] firstly, having met you both personally, I can unequivocally state that you are by no means ‘vile’, if anything you are both absolutely the contrary to this! I stand firmly behind you in your corner, always.”

“What I wish for the general public to take from this, is that Louis Walsh, former X Factor judge, has confirmed and revealed on national television, the tip of the iceberg of abuse, manipulation and coercion that went on behind the scenes on the X Factor, of which myself and many others have spoken publicly about. By stating he made £5million off of Jedward, immediately after calling them ‘vile’ and stating that they made ‘great tv’, in itself, only but further confirms how the show was disturbingly manufactured and manipulated.”

This is on the back of a series of clouds that have hung over Walsh. Regarding his involvement with Boyzone, he is on record as saying that he probably wouldn’t have picked Stephen Gately for the group had he known he was gay, his reason being that “it wasn’t cool then to have a gay guy in a band.”

And to Misha B – one of the most genuinely talented performers to have featured on The X Factor. She was accused of being a bully on the show by Walsh, without a shred of evidence or recompense, with the allegation allowed to stain Misha’s standing in the show. The word around the time was that something fishy was going on, and it wasn’t until 2020 that Misha said that she’d found her experience on the show difficult and that she was indeed the victim of racism thanks to the whole bullying accusations made by Walsh (and Tulisa), where they prodded and poked her with the ‘angry black woman’ narrative until she was hooked from the show.

And so, to Mel B.

On the sofas of The Xtra Factor, Walsh was filmed and broadcast with his hand on Mel B’s behind. Understandably furious, the Spice Girl jolts leaving Walsh to lead with his infamous ‘what?! what?!‘ patter, saying he was “looking after her”.

Of the incident, Walsh said: “She was very funny and you could say anything or do anything to her and I loved her, so I would just grab her for a laugh but it’s not PC anymore.”

You could do anything to her. Great.

Fans of Walsh (?) will no doubt claim sour grapes or wonder what the fuss is because Walsh is gay and it’s not the same grabbing someone’s behind or saying what he said about Stephen Gately – but everyone would be wise to keep an eye on this situation as there’s surely more to come from this CBB appearance. Walsh’s playbook has always been on the rough side, and with as many irritated and disgruntled people in his past, we could be about to see a deluge come our way.