Epic Records boss and legendary producer L.A. Reid took a break from his executive duties as one of the celebrity judges on Fox’s reality television music competition show, X-Factor, back in 2011. But it appears that Reid’s appearance on the program wasn’t that great of a time according to him.
Reid, who served two seasons as a judge on X-Factor, was a speaker at the Midem, or Marché International du Disque et de l’Edition Musicale, trade show and festival in Cannes, France this past weekend. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Reid was part of a Midem breakfast chat sponsored by Pepsi where he frankly shared what he thought of his time on network television.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done,” Reid said at a Pepsi-sponsored Midem breakfast chat on Saturday, June 6 in Cannes.
The event, a Pepsi-sponsored Q&A with Reid and outgoing Pepsi CMO Frank Cooper moderated by Kate Upshaw, found the Epic boss going deeper about his stint on the show and explaining why the experience didn’t work for him.
“The first season, yes, I had a great time,” he said. “It was a little bit of a vacation. I’d been making music, working at running labels for a long time, and it was a little bit of, ‘Let me just have some fun.’ But the second season I was fully engaged trying run a label, and it wasn’t fun anymore.
“And more importantly, it really affected my taste — it almost destroyed it,” he continued. “It completely threw me off — by the way, I have a book coming out soon, and it’ll all be on my book,” he interjected with a laugh.
Reid, 59, was gracious to X-Factor creator Simon Cowell, but said that he began to adopt the acerbic music executive’s tastes and not developing his own.
There was no release date set for Reid’s forthcoming title.
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Photo: WENN
