Katie Waissel: Former X Factor star says music industry was ‘frightening place to be’
A former X Factor contestant disillusioned with the music industry has spoken out about her “horrifying” experiences when she was a young artist.
Katie Waissel, who appeared on the ITV talent show in 2010, told Sky News that many women in the industry were “severely affected” by a string of issues including misogyny.
The former professional singer said she was sexually harassed during her career, and described the environment she found herself in as a “frightening place to be” at an age when she was “unsure of what [was] actually happening”.
Waissel said she feared losing her job if “zero-transparency” non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) were not signed – and that the contracts were presented to her without any independent legal advice.
“No one is forcing you to sign it, but you’re placed in a position where you’re signing a contract on unfair terms without protection or guidance,” she told The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee.
The 38-year-old described the music industry as male-dominated and said a “trickle-down effect” existed where bosses would behave in a certain manner, in turn setting a precedent for everyone else to copy their behaviour.
Her testimony comes after MPs warned that misogyny and discrimination were “endemic” in the industry.
The Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry found that sexual harassment and abuse were common in the sector, which it noted was routinely described as a “boy’s club”.
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Praising the inquiry, Waissel said there was a hierarchy of the “same faces” from record labels, PR and marketing firms, chief editors and legal bodies who “all swim in the same pond”.
She said: “It’s a very small pond – with fish that believe they are large.”
‘Turning poison to medicine’
Waissel ditched the music industry in pursuit of a legal career that safeguards artists in creative industries. She founded the OWHL Foundation to help provide them with the guidance, support and relief she says she never had.
The mother-of-one added: “Music and creative industries are magical and if we can protect them for tomorrow that makes my heart happy. It’s turning poison to medicine.”
Waissel in 2016. Pic: PA
In early 2023 it was reported that Waissel was planning a legal battle against Simon Cowell‘s Syco Entertainment, one of the companies behind the X Factor.
She told The Sun newspaper that the programme had “ruined my life”.
“There are so many of us who have been so trapped and it’s not fair, there was a huge imbalance in power,” she added.
Sky News approached Syco and Fremantle Media, the other firm behind the X Factor, but they did not respond.
Previously, Fremantle Media said it had “robust measures in place on the X Factor to ensure contestants were supported with no time limit on aftercare once the show had aired.”
Waissel appeared on the seventh season of the show. She was eliminated in the quarter-finals after performing the Kings Of Leon hit Sex On Fire and R.E.M.’s Everybody Hurts.
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Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report
A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.
Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.
Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.
The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.
“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.
“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”
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Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.
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In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.
After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.
But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.
R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court.
The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.
He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.
The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.
He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.
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In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.
“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.
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