Simon Cowell got mercilessly roasted online after his walk through the “Spirit Tunnel” on The Jennifer Hudson Show turned into a lesson in cringe.
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Before his interview, the 65-year-old former American Idol judge walked down the hallway, serenaded by Hudson’s crew singing about him to the tune of “The Greatest Showman.”
Looking visibly uncomfortable, the famously stoic Cowell offered a few awkward claps and a pained smile as he shuffled down the corridor.
“Can I do that again?” Cowell said after he reached the end of the hallway. It’s unclear if he enjoyed it or wanted a less embarrassing do-over…
At the start of the interview, however, Cowell claimed that he “absolutely loved” the “Spirit Tunnel.”
“I asked where you came up with the idea, and they told me the idea. It’s like the best way of coming on the show, seriously, I’ve ever done in my life,” Cowell gushed to Hudson.
The America’s Got Talent judge then asked if he could “steal” the “Spirit Tunnel” for his own show. “If you invite us to do it for you,” Hudson shot back, which Cowell said he’d do.
“I think it’s brilliant,” Cowell insisted, laying it on thick. “It’s seriously brilliant. I want to do it twice. I might do it on the way back.”
The Internet Judges the Judge After Simon Cowell’s Awkward ‘Spirit Tunnel’ Moment
Of course, the internet, in its infinite and often merciless wisdom, wasn’t quite buying his hallway theatrics.
“Why he clap like a T rex?” one onlooker and wordsmith wrote on X. “Something is off, and I can’t put my finger around it. Idk how to explain it, but why does he look like someone’s wearing him?” a second critic wrote, adding a crying emoji.
“Has he had his head removed and attached to a child’s body?” a third X user wondered.
“Is this his first time clapping? Why is he clapping like that?” another puzzled onlooker wrote in the comments section of an Instagram clip of the footage.
“This so cringe,” yet another fan pointed out.
However, at least one onlooker was in Cowell’s corner.
“He suffered significant injuries from two bike accidents and had spinal surgery,” they pointed out.
Indeed, Cowell broke his back in a 2020 e-bike accident and needed a six-hour surgery.
“It could have been a lot worse. When I saw the X-ray, I really nearly smashed my spine to pieces, so I literally wouldn’t have been able to walk,” Cowell told Extra in 2021.
“I knew I’d broken my back the minute I landed,” he added, “it was really, really kind of sudden, and it hurt.”