Perpetually timid wallflower and Mod icon Paul Weller has spoken out against "effing talent shows" such as The X Factor and The Voice.
Talking to the Radio Times, Weller said: "I’d be too embarrassed to be on those shows. You get some of these kids who think they’re a little bit ‘edgy’, got a bit of a Pete Doherty haircut. You’re not edgy, really, mate. Otherwise you wouldn’t be on an effing talent show, would you?"
Asked if he would appear as a judge on one of the programmes, which he described as "Saturday-night viewing for the masses", Weller responded "Would I hell."
Weller has previously criticised The X Factor, saying in 2010: "I don’t think it’s a great role model for any aspiring up-and-coming kids who want to be musicians or artists because you haven’t gotta be that talented, you haven’t gotta put too much work in it, you just gotta get your boat race on TV and you could be famous next week." Simon Cowell responded by saying: "If Paul Weller put out a good record I would put him on the show."
TV talent shows aren’t the only thing the former Jam frontman’s taken issue with, though: Boris Johnson, James Blunt, Coldplay, Sting, Bob Geldof, tracksuits, U2, and the internet ("the Devil’s Window"), have all been at the end of his ire in the past.
Weller, who recently released his eleventh LP, Sonik Kicks, which gave him his fourth number one album, does have a few regulars in the TV schedules he tunes into: EastEnders, Ben 10 and Peppa Pig are favourites in the Weller household. He told ShortList magazine about his viewing habits after Noel Gallagher revealed that Weller was an X Factor viewer, saying: "Yeah, I do watch it, but I also watch Peppa Pig with my six-year-old boy. And I’m more of a fan of Peppa Pig than I am of The X Factor. If anything, it makes more sense."
