American Idol's Simon Cowell offered $144 MILLION PER YEAR

[Hugabear]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06302009/tv/enormous_money_176757.htm

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EARLY salary figures from Simon Cowell's "American Idol" contract negotiations are leaking out and they're eye-popping.

Cowell, who reportedly made $36 million last year for judging the hit competition show, has been offered three or four times that amount -- between $100 million and $144 million per year -- by co-producers Fox and 19 Entertainment to stick with "Idol" when his contract expires next May, according to The Guardian, a London newpaper.
<snip>


This would be a fucking outrage. At a time when people are hurting worse than ever before, when unemployment is at levels not seen since the Great Depression, how can these obscene payrolls be justified? And it's not just entertainers like Simon Cowell - there are far too many people in this country making obscene amounts of money when most of us are hurting.

Bring back the 90% tax brackets!

[goclark]

1. Would the show fall apart without him?

Not in my brain. :shrug:

[billyoc]

2. I'll watch the show for 10% of that.

[Hugabear]

3. No shit - how hard is it to tell someone that they're not very good?

The man will basically be getting paid hundreds of millions to insult people.

[anigbrowl]

13. It's easy...but can you do it with style?

It's a performance, and he's good at it. Part of being good at it is making it look trivially easy. Some people are natural and believable on camera, many are not. If you are in the former group, I encourage you to get involved in a public access show or the like and make use of your talent.

[LostInAnomie]

4. Well, to be fair, he does have to watch American Idol every week.

Plus, he does the work of four judges. He has to sit through the mindless blathering of the other three douchebag judges before he gets to say anything of any relevance.

[greguganus]

5. I'll do all that for 100 k. n/t

[LostInAnomie]

7. Will you also wear an inappropriately tight T-shirt?

[FiveGoodMen]

6. "Bring back the 90% tax brackets!"

Amen, amen, a-fucking-men!

[asksam]

8. 90%?

Hell, once you're up that high, it should be 110%.

[End Of The Road]

16. But he pays taxes in the U.K., not the U.S. n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

17. That's just fine.

The UK used to have high brackets as well.

Keep people from collecting all the world's money and we'll all benefit.

[Hugabear]

18. If he's earning that money in the US, then he needs to pay taxes in the US

Ditto for anybody making that much money in this country.

[Sgent]

20. If he's earning it in the US

then he's paying US taxes.

The US taxes every penny earned worldwide by US citizens, and every penny earned in the US by anyone.

[Hugabear]

21. Thanks

I figured that should be the case, I was responding to someone who said that he paid taxes in the UK, and not in the US.

[MADem]

9. That show obviously makes so much money that it's worth it to offer him that sum.

I don't watch the program. It's just "too young" for me--and I don't think the performances are that good, to be honest.

[Blue_Tires]

10. damn! and he can't even hit a curveball...

so how much do Buck-McCarver get?? Even if its a fraction of that its a whole lot...


I want to work for Fox!

[anigbrowl]

11. because he's linked to the success of the show

People tune into shows like that partly because of the famous presenters. Everyone loves to hate Simon Cowell and his snarky comments...and that's part of why they watch. It's like a movie: when it comes to popular entertainment, people generally want a hero, a villain, and a struggle between them.

That's why Darth Vader is the most popular Star Wars character, and why Simon Cowell is actually the most popular AI judge. No Simon Cowell = lower viewing figures = lower profits. Entertainment contracts are always negotiated on the basis of how much impact the cast members have on the bottom line, because the names of the people on camera are (in general) by far the best guide to the financial success of the business.

People don't care about the production company that releases a film or TV show at all. Very very few know or care who the producer is or even what the producer does. A few care who the director is, which is a few more than the number who care about the writer. But pretty much everyone knows who stars in a popular movie or TV show, and that's why they have so much impact on the bottom line. You can sell a show with the name of the people who appear in it. Even though you hate and despise Simon Cowell, you know who he is. That translates into a lot of dollars for the producers.

[kjackson227]

12. Is what he does on that show really that important???

[anigbrowl]

15. Very much so

(putting on my producer hat for a minute - this is what I do for a living, although on a much, much smaller scale than American Idol): a show like this needs a Bad Guy for the audience to boo. That's what makes them identify with the contestants and pick up the phone to vote.

If you have 3 judges who are all nice and say 'well that was so awesome, you're so talented and deserving' to the contestants, then the viewer at home just nods and smiles and thinks 'well that contestant will likely get through'. But if yuo have someone bad telling them that they're no good, then the viewer is 'no way! that contestant is talented, how dare you say otherwise mister fancy-pants talent show judge!' and they pick up the phone and spend 50 cents to express their opinion. Which is where the money comes from. Even if they don't, they still watch to see The Drama and that makes the commercial break advertising slots valuable.

It's a formula, just like 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again' or 'guy loses everything, takes revenge many years later' or whatever. There is nothing wrong with this, formulaic stories and shows exist because people like the formula, just as pizza or hamburgers or hot dogs are formula foods which people enjoy on a regular basis, just as baseball or football games are fundamentally formulaic etc. etc..

[Warren Stupidity]

14. So you would prefer that all the profits stay with management?

I understand that this is an absurd amount of money, but I refuse to get on this bandwagon.

[Hugabear]

19. Nobody should be earning that much. NOBODY.

That includes corporate CEOs, entertainers, athletes, lottery winners, etc. There are way too many people struggling around the world. It's obscene that people can be raking in so much filthy lucre, so much so to the point where they can't even spend it all. So what do they do, they take all that $$$ and hoard it away in banks, private accounts, using loopholes to ensure that as little of it is taxed as possible.

[democracy1st]

22. I know and people wonder why Faux News has high ratings! BS is BS

[Warren Stupidity]

24. Again - Idol is bringing in way more than they are offering Cowell

so if Cowell shouldn't be allowed to earn his share of the loot from this stupid program, then the profits will go directly to the shareholders of Fox, i.e. straight into Murdoch's pocket, without having to leave any behind with the people who work to create the show.

The same problem applies to professional sports. If the players can't demand huge salaries then all that happens is that the huge profits go directly to the owners, who can't dunk the ball, throw a strike, toss a football 50 yards etc.

The owners will continue to take advantage of the many tax loopholes they put through congress to protect their precious capital gains and shield their income, but we won't be outraged that one of the peasants is getting too much money so it is a win win situation, eh?

[FiveGoodMen]

26. "the profits will go directly to the shareholders"

If we could change the law to tax the celebs, we could change it to tax the shareholders.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

23. And we atheists again say to you all

See - I told you so.

[JI7]

25. what if he agreed to the deal and the show started to lose ratings

that would be funny

[ecstatic]

27. And people complain about athletes' pay?!

Does Simon Cowell have to do grueling workouts daily (sometimes in the hot sun)???