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Cheryl Cole settles with X-Factor USA
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 29 November 2013
Cheryl Cole has agreed to accept an undisclosed out-of-court settlement with the producer of the US version of ‘X-Factor’, Blue Orbit. The singer sued for lost earnings earlier this year, having been dropped from the show in 2011.
As previously reported, a judge on the UK edition for three years, Cole moved to the then new ‘X-Factor USA’ with Simon Cowell to reprise the position there. However, she was kicked off the show after filming one episode (reportedly because it was feared her accent would be too difficult to understand) and her contributions were never aired.
Nonetheless, Cole was paid the $1.8 million fee she had agreed for appearing in the full first series, so she wasn’t out of pocket. Except she was, she and her lawyers claimed, because her contract stated that she was also entitled to a further $2 million for the second series whether she appeared in that or not. And she didn’t. If you remember, she didn’t even appear in the first one.
So, Cole sued for that second series fee and for expenses – a $100,000 wardrobe allowance, $25,000 for her stylist, $15,000 for rent, and a $2,500 living allowance – relating to the brief period she spent working on the show.
Blue Orbit maintained that it owed Cole nothing more, because she hadn’t made it to the end of her first series. But yesterday a spokesperson for the one time Girl Aloud told the BBC: “Cheryl’s dispute with Blue Orbit has been resolved amicably”.
