The Irish pop duo made up of twins John and Edward Grimes took to Twitter on Monday to slam the show that made them famous.
“The Biggest regret in life was not telling the judges on Xfactor to f**k off,” read the first of a string of tweets from Jedward. “Every contestant on the Xfactor was a slave to the show and got paid Zero while they made millions!”
Even though the brothers finished in sixth place on Season 6 of the UK’s The X Factor in 2009, they signed a management deal with Louis Walsh (Boyzone, Westlife) and a recording contract with Universal Music Ireland. Their first three studio albums topped the charts in their native Ireland.
On Monday, they lashed out at The X Factor and its co-creator and judge Simon Cowell, who had dismissed Jedward as “not very good and incredible annoying” on the show.
“Simon Cowell thinks he’s the Mafia leader of the music industry when in reality he’s nothing but a bad facelift,” they tweeted, adding “there’s a reason” Cowell’s label Syco is called “Psycho!”
Just here casually waiting for the Lawyers to come threatening us! Good Luck from the whole fandom ❤️ Justice is gonna be served!
— JEDWARD (@planetjedward) April 6, 2021
Though it’s not clear what sparked Jedward’s attack, the duo said they were speaking out because Syco acts like One Direction and Little Mix can’t.
“This isn’t our story to tell! It’s an insight of how corrupt the music industry is! We’re sending courage & strength to all artists being f**ked over! It ends now,” declared Jedward. “Everybody hurts. It shouldn’t be normal that all artists have to face the emotional and legal battles when all they wanted to do is sing!”
Jedward claimed they are “putting ourselves in a very dangerous position speaking out! Victims in the music industry need to be heard! … Humans can’t be owned Artists shouldn’t be owned!”
The 29-year-old brothers said eating disorders and depression are “very common” in the music industry because “nobody cares about the artists’ mental health! only the money!
“When artists ask too [many] questions they’re a threat and are blacklisted and not given the Radio/PR cuz they want them to fail to make way for new naive dreamers to f**k over.”
Jedward continued the Twitter tirade with bizarre allegations about management spies and staged overdoses.
“They always isolate artists from their families and make them dependent on fake industry friends who don’t have their back!”
According to Jedward, "Interview Questions are screened beforehand by management to control the narrative! If artists go off the script there's consequences! most interview final edits are approved by label before being published!” (Like most credible outlets, iHeartRadio Music News never allows interview questions to be screened and never allows artists of their reps to preview or approve content before its published.)
Many Jedward fans are rallying behind the duo but some are calling them out. "You'd have no career without X factor," read one reply on Twitter. "Stop trying to get attention. I'm a fan but lets not get unappreciative now..." Another opined: "I love you guys but i think you're grown enough to take accountability...you guys chose that path..."
Jedward, which has released only one studio album since 2012, never achieved commercial success in the U.S. or Canada.