Richard Rushfield wrote an article in The Daily Beast today about why Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol after the current season. Speculation existed that Simon was merely leaving to helm his own show (an American version of Britain's X Factor), but Richard suggests that there was also bad blood on the Idol set. The article sugges that Simon Cowell was upset that Idol producer Simon Fuller was raking in the dough, whereas Simon Cowell was seen as merely on-air talent and wasn't getting a behind-the-scenes take (Cowell makes an estimated $50 million a year from the show, so it's safe to say Fuller must be making a ton more). Simon started to assert himself more by creating shows like American Inventor and America's Got Talent, eventually clashing more and more with the producers of Idol. Now Simon is poised to leave Idol and make a larger fortune if he can get X Factor off the ground and running, especially with Paula Abdul. If X Factor has Paula and Simon, while Idol has Kara and Randy, it's a safe bet that Idol's ratings would tank. So Simon Cowell has been plotting the end of Idol all this time? Who knew we were working on the same side as him? The article is a good read, so check it out.

Coming as no surprise to us, Celebitchy says that the lame and offensive gay jokes that Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell spouted on seasons of Idol were encouraged by ex-producer Nigel Lythgoe who found them "hilarious." With Ellen DeGeneres coming on board as a judge, current producer Simon Fuller has told the two lame guys to cut out the gay jokes. Is anyone surprised that the 7 seasons of Simon Cowell telling male contestants to put on dresses and mocking Ryan were perpetuated by Nigel? It took Nigel leaving the show to have the first sort of openly gay contestant do well without jokes being made. Nigel's homophobic tendencies have been documented before, so we hope he's having fun on his Dance show. Because gay guys clearly stay out of dancing, so he's home free.

Roseanne Barr blogged about the Idol finale, and it may be the best 2 paragraphs written about Idol ever. She calls Kara a tranny, says Idol watchers are idiots, and rips Simon Fuller a new asshole. Hilarious! We love her.

"the u.s. elections! it's all for show and has no substance, offensive homophobic sexist and hateful. the closeted gay guy who goes to church won over the gay guy who is "out".

simon fuller never tells the truth, because the truth is that simon fuller hates originality and talent, and only likes what is common and hack. That is what american record buyers support--same shit different day... the white guy who sings with an emotional catch in his voice that little girls can have safe romantic sexual fantasies about. FUCKIN pat boone YUCK! cancel this atrocious show. the new girl looks like a boy in her bikini...she probably has a dick too. its all bullshit, just like everything else is all bullshit here, starting with that governor, an austrian closet case who hangs around with my ex husband who is a complete sociopathic LOON!"