Jedward – helped by Gemma Collins – hit out at Louis Walsh after ‘vile’ Celebrity Big Brother remark
Jedward have hit out at Louis Walsh – while having a roast dinner at The Only Way Is Essex star Gemma Collins’s house – after the music manager described the twins as “vile” during a conversation on Celebrity Big Brother (CBB).
Former X Factor judge Walsh is a contestant in the current series of the revived CBB, and made the comments about the brothers, John and Edward Grimes, during Tuesday night’s episode.
When asked what they were like by Coronation Street actor Colson Smith, Walsh said: “They were vile… I done [sic] five million quid with them, I swear on my mother’s life.”
He added: “They were vile, they were novelty, they were great for the show.”
Louis Walsh with Jedward on X Factor in 2009. Pic: Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/Shutterstock
Walsh mentored Jedward when they competed on X Factor in 2009, and later managed the pair.
Following the broadcast of his remarks, the brothers shared a series of posts on X, calling Walsh “a cold hearted b*****d” and an “absolute weirdo with bad intentions for all”, and accused him of trying “to make us sign our name and life away in dodgy contracts”.
They added: “All future acts should be made aware of what this VILE man is really like.”
Louis Walsh is a contestant on the revived CBB. Pic: ITV
Social media users were quick to jump to the twins’ defence – including reality star and TV personality Collins, also known as The GC, who shared footage of herself watching the CBB episode on Instagram.
“Louis, don’t be slagging off my boys,” she said. “They’re not vile, they’re beautiful in every single way.”
She then panned the camera to reveal she was, in fact, watching the show with Jedward themselves.
Pic: @gemmacollins/Instagram
Further clips showed the friends sitting down for a Tuesday night roast dinner, with the twins letting rip further, saying: “He doesn’t care about people. All he wants is money, money, money.”
Later, another video was shared from The GC’s hot tub: “You never know what’s going to happen,” they said. “We were literally sitting down to have a dinner, which Gemma cooked. We were in a good headspace, everything was calm, we said, ‘what’s on television?’ … We have somebody that was being nasty, talking s**t.”
“They’re not vile otherwise they wouldn’t be in my hot tub,” Collins added.
In another post, she described the brothers as “the sweetest talented polite educated kind boys I’ve ever met”.
Walsh remains in the CBB house, although the live audience could be heard outside when the latest voting was announced last night, booing and chanting: “Get Louis out.”
His fellow former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne – who was described by ITV as “a guest lodger” on the show – and The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star Lauren Simon both left the house.
Sky News has contacted representatives for Walsh for comment.
Entertainment
Rageh Omaar says he was ‘determined to finish presenting programme’ after becoming unwell live on air
Entertainment
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.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.
Read more:
Injuries after explosion at Iraq military base
UK soldiers ‘exposed’ to toxic chemical in Iraq must get answers
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”.
Read more on Sky News:
Newsreader ‘receiving medical care’ after on-screen behaviour worries fans
Actress Emma Stone says she ‘would like to be’ called by her real name
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
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.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment11 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports6 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Technology3 years ago
Game consoles were once banned in China. Now Chinese developers want a slice of the $49 billion pie
-
Politics2 years ago
Have the last few wobbly weeks seen a turning point for Johnson as PM?