Fatboy Slim Told Simon Cowell To “Fuck Off” Over Reality DJing Show

There’s more than one reason to tell Simon Cowell to fuck off, but Fatboy Slim has by far one of the most righteous. The superstar DJ recently revealed that he was among a number of top-ranking turntable masters approached by Cowell to star in his new reality competition show, Ultimate DJ.

“Simon Cowell was talking about doing a show, and everyone in the business — he kind of started approaching us — and we were like, ‘Fuck off. No – that’s a terrible idea!'” the Praise You hit-maker, whose real name is Norman Cook, told Digital Spy at Electrobeach Festival in France recently.

“That’s the good thing about dance music,” he continued, “it grows organically through drunk people late at night coming up with stupid ideas. It’s not something that can be scripted or transported into a TV studio.” Cook explained that the very concept of DJing wouldn’t translate well to television.

“I get offered loads of TV shows and they’re like, ‘Can you perform for five minutes?’ But DJing takes two hours and an audience,” he said. “It’s not like you can go out there and sing your latest song. Because of that, it will always remain slightly outside the mainstream. At the end of the day, it’s about taking a big bunch of high people and trying to get them higher, which you can’t do on TV.”

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, a noted critic of reality talent quests, recently hit out at reality singing shows like The Voice during a talk at the Television Critics Association press tour. He echoed previous sentiments that the shows dangerously warp perceptions of talent and success.

Watch: Fatboy Slim at Ultra Music Festival Miami 2013

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