The lure of the lecher

Simon Cowell and Dannii’s fling was no casting couch moment. But there are plenty of examples of men who do abuse power, says Suzanne Harrington

SO Simon Cowell and Dannii Minogue allegedly had a no-strings fling behind the scenes on X Factor. Is this the dreaded casting couch? Hardly. The ‘affair’ was reported as though it besmirched Dannii’s honour, with Cowell portrayed as an abuser of privilege.

While the media outrage found nothing solid, the suggestion was that Cowell should have kept the revelations quiet to protect Dannii’s virtue. The implication was he chose not to hush the story up, because it portrayed him, according to one paper, as “red-blooded”. David Walliams, however, recently teased Cowell about being gay and Cowell has said he is used to the joke, but unless you’re a professional footballer, it’s not like being gay is a big deal, so could the lack of an injunction be bed-post notching?)