Perez Hilton To Replace Simon Cowell?

He says Madonna wouldn't work, nor would Howard Stern. But gossip blogger Perez Hilton to fill American Idol judge Simon Cowell's shoes?

"Perez would be funny," Cowell told reporters Thursday. "He's got a good taste in music. He's a personality. I mean, that could work."Hilton — real name Mario Lanadeira — has his own music label under Warner Music Group, and he certainly shares Cowell's acerbic tongue. His eponymous site PerezHilton.com, one of the most-read sites on the Internet, made a tremendous imprint in the world of celebrity gossip with mean-spirited posts.

Cowell said his replacement must be someone with music experience, and with his trademark truth-telling. "In simplistic terms, it's like if you judge the ice-skating at the Olympics — if you're going to give a score, you genuinely need to know what you're talking about," he said during the call with reporters.

"You've just got to find somebody who can actually make a difference to the contestants, who's not afraid to speak their mind, who's not afraid to be honest and occasionally blunt, but not to be gratuitously rude," he continued. "I'm really getting tired of that now."Cowell still has a few months more before leaving to start the US version of X Factor, and there is no front-runner. Said Cowell: "Who could do it, in my mind? If I really knew the answer to that question, I wouldn't tell you."

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