THE BULLY FACTOR
Talent show stars claim pop industry exploited and mistreated them
FORMER X Factor stars have hit out at the music industry for ‘exploiting’ and mistreating them after their overnight rise to fame.
The ITV show’s 2010 runner-up Rebecca Ferguson has called for a parliamentary inquiry to help protect young artists.
She also wants an independent tribunal to hold those responsible to account.
The singer, 34, from Liverpool, has demanded an overhaul of the industry that she says mistreated her. She has also alleged that teenage stars have been sexually abused while others have been callously ‘taken out of circulation like cattle’.
Fellow X Factor stars Cher Lloyd, 27, and Irish twins Jedward, 29, have also claimed they were poorly treated after appearing on music mogul Simon Cowell’s TV talent show.
Miss Ferguson, whose hits include Nothing’s Real But Love, called for music managers and agents to be required to ‘have a licence’ and ‘face a tribunal should they mistreat an artist or employee’.
She tweeted: ‘No more sexually assaulting women in hotel rooms! No more covering up sexual assault for your seedy friends. No more grooming 17year-old boys who are confused about their sexuality! No more taking people out of circulation as if they are cattle.’
She will meet Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden next week to discuss setting up a music industry ombudsman. She wrote in a statement: ‘Enough is enough...A lot of my damage has been done but this is about protecting people in the future.’ Miss Lloyd,
‘Teenagers were sexually abused’
who had a No1 hit in 2011 with Swagger Jagger, was 17 when she appeared on X Factor and has claimed that people ‘sold me the dream just to exploit me’.
John and Edward Grimes, the brothers known as Jedward, said: ‘The biggest regret in life was not telling the judges on X Factor to **** off.’ They added: ‘The fact that every contestant has to act like their judge mentors them when in reality all they care about is their pay cheque!’ An X Factor spokesman declined to comment.