What's the story about Cheryl Cole and US X Factor?
It's been the biggest on-off showbiz story of the summer - singer Cheryl Cole joining then leaving the judging panel of the US version of the star-making TV talent show X Factor. But today there are reports she might be about to make a comeback. It's an intriguing saga, showing how the media feed each other and how the story can spread across social media
Here's a tweet linking to a version of the News of the World story about the Girls Aloud singer's supposed return to the US X Factor, as posted on the Sun's website today.
A story later on the BBC website, updated tonight, lends some weight to the NOTW report. It says X Factor supremo Simon Cowell wants Cheryl Cole back on the US show. His publicist Max Clifford says Cowell is talks with US producers about a comeback for the 27-year-old Girls Aloud singer who left the show after four days and returned to the UK a week ago.
Heatworld wraps up the saga, reporting the two perspectives from the US and the UK. TMZ reports in the US that Fox TV executives are unwilling to pay out the 1.5 million due on her contract so want her to appear, while the News of the World claims producers had a change of heart after viewing footage of the Girls Aloud singer and realising she would be a hit after all.
- Here's the version of the story from TMZ in the US. You'd think they'd be closer to the producers and may actually have a reasonable idea about what was going in, despite the likelihood of internal politics putting a spin on what is leaked into the public domain.
- 'X Factor' to Cheryl Cole: For Money, Not Love | TMZ.comJun 4, 2011 ... Sources at " X Factor " tell TMZ ... FOX and Fremantle (the producers of the show) are trying to get Cheryl Cole back on the program, ...
Here's another US perspective from Billboard.com - 'it's all about money'. Cheryl is said to want her 1.5 million dollar fee despite being dropped from the US show after four days for undisclosed reasons. But if she wants to pick up the cash, she'll have to turn up for duty in the US.
- Another twist from the UK's Metro, reporting the UK's Sun, says that Cole is aiming to launch her singing career in the US and will have to sign a gag order over leaving the US X Factor if she wants to collect her 1.5 million dollars.
Here's a retweet of a report on Contactmusic in the US quoting the original News of the World report - the headline suggests Cole's return is a done deal, although the truth appears far from that.
Meanwhile there's plenty of confusion and cynicism out there about the whole saga. Maybe that's a result of the avalanche of content on a story like this, mainly a series of reports of reports from unnamed sources, laced with comment. So I'll leave the last words to a few random tweeters.
