Simon Cowell came under fire last week for reportedly taking a swipe at Zayn Malik when he joined the One Direction boys on stage at an award ceromony in his honour.
Speaking from the stage at London's Grosvenor House Hotel with Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Liam Payne standing behind him, he said: "Just by luck I get the award I've been wanting all my life and I'm completely hammered.
"Guys, who misses Zayn? We all get old but I've still got charisma."
But now Simon has issued an apology while admitting it "backfired hugely".
"I just kind of thought when I was standing on stage with them, that they were back to being five, and I saw myself [being a part of] One Direction for a moment," he told New York's Fresh 102.7."
"That's when I made that quip, ‘Who Needs Zayn?' which of course backfired hugely. So I apologize to any Zayn fans out there – it was meant as a joke."
