Cowell slams Depeche Mode's Gore for saying he should be shot

Simon Cowell has criticised Depeche Mode guitarist Martin Gore after the pop star joked that the X Factor boss should be shot for what he has done to the music industry.

Cowell, 53, vented his fury and branded Gore a “weirdo” in a series of comments on Twitter.

In an interview with MusicWeek, guitarist Gore reportedly said: “I’m not advocating violence but I think somebody should shoot Simon Cowell.”

He added: “His influence on the industry over the last God knows how many years... It’s just like, so many people think that’s what music is. What happened to bands getting together?”

I read Martin gore wants to shoot me. He was is in depeche mode. Do you realise how weird and stupid that makes you. Go and watch the news.

— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) November 26, 2012

Cowell said: “Why I am angry about weirdo Gore is a ton of people have got shot this year and people like weirdo Gore encourage this.”

Gore has called Cowell a "drama queen" for blowing the incident out of proportion, and added: "…Everybody knows it was an obvious tongue-in-cheek comment!!"

And it's getting silly!!! @MailOnline #DepecheMode #MartinGore http://t.co/JdK3YvfW

— 🅄🄻🅃🅁🄰 Depeche Mode〇•° (@Ultra_Depeche) November 27, 2012

Cowell has previously spoken of getting death threats and having to beef up security at his Los Angeles mansion.

“People want to kill me,” he said. “It’s serious and we have a lot of security now for that reason.

“My bosses told me they have been shown emails threatening my life. They said one man wanted to stab me. It sent a chill down me. But I’m used to it,” he said at the time.