The Louis Walsh controversy, explained

You might not know his name, but Louis Walsh has been on your television. Active for more than 3 decades, the Irish music manager turned TV talent show host has spent decades judging people far more talented than he is.

Despite a slew of controversies, a tongue made of acid, and no real talent of his own to mention, Walsh is still a big name in the music industry. His latest venture as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother has put him back in the cultural zeitgeist, but a career of nasty comments and bad attitudes should be enough to keep this septuagenarian off of our screens.

Louis Walsh Vs Ronan Keating

Walsh knows a thing or two about hurting feelings. After his first critically successful pop venture, Boyzone, dissolved in 2000, he stayed on as frontman Ronan Keating’s manager. Their partnership didn’t last long, however. Walsh and Keating had some kind of spectacular falling out. Keating claimed that Walsh “tried to ruin him” and that “if he thinks we can ever hug and make up he can forget it…. I wouldn’t have a problem if I never saw him again. He’s not a nice character.”

Though the pair would reunite in 2009 after the sudden death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately, Walsh wasn’t welcomed back to manage the band. All he has to say about it is, “Most of them are very ungrateful, they just turn into monsters.”

Their mended ties broke yet again when Walsh accused Ronan of being, “A manufactured popstar who actually believed his own publicity.”

Louis Walsh vs Girls Aloud

After his success with Boyzone, Walsh was tapped to judge the singing contest Popstars: The Rivals. While both a boyband and a girl band were chosen, only the female pop group, Girls Aloud, found any success. Louis Walsh managed the all-girl group until he was replaced in 2005.

Since their split, Walsh has been incredibly candid about his distaste for the time spent together. He told The Sun that he never wanted the girl group in Popstars, “I thought I was going to get a boy band — I was convinced. And they gave me the girls. I didn’t want them.”

Leaning on a bevy of sexist tropes, he continued, “Girls don’t like each other in bands — it’s very simple. They all want to be the lead girl.” While he was the band’s manager, he frequently accused them of being “fat.” Kimberly Walsh, the manager who replaced Louis Walsh (no relation), admits he belittled the girls in private.

“We were doing our video for Love Machine in 2004 and Louis Walsh waltzed in and said to us, ‘Oh, none of you are fat anymore. Brilliant, that’s great.’

“Obviously in Louis’ head he did have an issue with some of our sizes but I think he learnt from Nigel and thought best not to comment in public – but he did in private.”

In his defense, Louis is entirely unashamed and has admitted that he would do it again if he had to. “I did it because they were competing with the Spice Girls. If it were now, I would still say it. I would tell them in a nice way. You have to be honest.”

When former Girls Aloud band member Cheryl Cole landed a gig as his X Factor costar, he made even more digs. He suggested that she lip-synched rather than sang, could never win as a contestant, and teased her for being “orange.”

Louis Walsh Vs Stephen Gately

Stephen Gately came out in 1999 after learning an acquaintance meant to sell the details of his sex life to the media. When asked if he would have chosen Gately if he’d known he was gay, Walsh said he would have thought twice about it, because “it wasn’t cool then to have a gay guy in the band”.

Over the years, Walsh has praised Gately for how quick he was to jump on command, and listed him as his favorite member posthumously, saying, “Stephen was like, the big heartthrob. He was grateful.”

Putting the icing on his homophobic cake, Walsh continued, “I think people are all racist and homophobic. They just pretend they’re not. It’s the way we’re brought up.”

Louis Walsh v News Group Newspapers

In 2012 Walsh took The Sun to task for documents connecting the paper to allegations that Walsh had sexually assaulted a man in a Dublin nightclub. The Sun published the article in 2011, and Walsh sued for defamation.

Though the music mogul won the suit, he claimed the ordeal had a lasting effect on him. “I have panic attacks still about it a little bit. That was the worst thing in my life… that guy was trying to trap me and he nearly succeeded. I’ll never forget about it.”

The rumor had lasting effects. As Walsh put it, “there’s no smoke without fire.”

Louis Walsh SAs Mel B on TV

Walsh’s paranoia over the previous incident clearly didn’t teach him to behave. Just a few years later, he landed himself in hot water for real after inappropriately touching Mel B on The X Factor UK in 2014.

The X Factor has carefully edited out the exchange, and turned off comments on their version of the ordeal — and for good reason, too. True copies of the truly grody moment are still available on YouTube, and even a decade later, viewers are still revolted by Walsh.

In the 30 second clip, Walsh is sat squarely between Mel B and Simon Cowell. He starts with his arm around the back of the couch, but as the conversation continues, Walsh lets it drift south. Before long, he’s planted his palm squarely on Mel B’s behind. As they chat, he continuously pats Mel’s rear-end, drumming his finger like an exasperated child on her flesh. As Walsh treats her derrière like a stress ball, Mel’s expression varies between irritation and rag, casting glances offscreen for help from a crew member.

After more patience than Jesus Christ himself could have shown, the singer finally calls attention to the aggressive squeezing, stopping the entire conversation to ask, “Why are you grabbing my butt?!” She scoots away as Walsh cackles (alone, I might add) and replies, “I’m looking out for her.”

It’s a revolting exchange, one made even worse by Walsh’s “clarifying comments.” When the clip resurfaced in 2018 at the height of the #MeToo movement, he told Today FM that Mel B was very amenable to his sense of humor. “She was very funny and you could say anything or do anything to her and I loved her, so I would just grab her for a laugh.” Completely oblivious to why this sort of behavior is inappropriate, he finished by saying, “Its just not PC anymore.”

Walsh was condemned on social media, and even a decade after his casual assault, users’ comments are roundly disgusted by his actions. While most rational people were firmly against Walsh and the placating responses Mel B was given by her costars in the wake of her clapback, there were still several people who backed the music mogul. Though Walsh has never confirmed his sexuality, there were many who claimed that as a gay man, his gropey little fingers weren’t out of line.

Walsh still acknowledges zero fault in his action, as he rounded his Today interview off with a tone-deaf statement. “Everybody is watching everybody, the papers, you can’t do anything on Twitter. You can’t say anything, you can’t say what you really feel because you’re going to offend somebody.”

Louis Walsh Vs Misha Bryan

Calling back to Walsh’s clearly stated belief that all people are racist and homophobic, he was accused of making racist comments on The X Factor. After appearing on the show in 2011, the then 19-year-old Misha B accused the show of having a corrupt agenda – it wouldn’t be the first time the series was accused of stirring up drama. She claimed the narrative showed her as an “over-confident” bully, and that comments made by the judges as a result made her feel suicidal. While the complaint seemed directed at the series rather than the judges, Misha made sure to call out two by name.

The singer pointed to Louis Walsh and cohost Tulisa as the primary antagonists. She described Louis’s comments as “verbal violence” after he told her, “I hope you’re not too overconfident.” The crowd was immediately on her side, but the sting of his words was clear on her face. Right on his heels, Tulisa accuses her of bullying other contestants behind the scenes, “In some ways you being so feisty can come across as mean to certain contestants.”

The other judges were quick to console Misha, but the comments left their mark. The X Factor said it would look into the matter after Misha accused the show of pushing an “angry Black woman” narrative, but after three years, the series remains silent on the matter.