Simon Cowell Encourages a Contestant to Punch Howie Mandel in The Face
AGT All-Stars Reading Time: 3 minutes
During Monday night’s episode of America’s Got Talent All-Stars, Simon Cowell made a shocking comment to the conductor of Voices of Hope Children’s Choir. Since the group wanted to get redemption, Cowell suggested a physical type of payback.
Simon Cowell Tells Voices of Hope’s Conductor to Punch Howie Mandel
Ahead of Voices of Hope Children’s Choir‘s preliminary performance, the group’s conductor, Sarah Grandpre, took her spot beside the judges panel. While preparing for the song to begin, Cowell turned to Grandpre and gave her what some would call, the opportunity of a lifetime.
“By the way, if he says anything negative punch him,” Cowell said.
Grandpre then slightly moved away from the judge, saying “okay.” But Cowell wasn’t finished yet.
“Just one punch,” Cowell clarified.
Since Heidi Klum sits between Cowell and Mandel, she clarified that she’s out of bounds. At this point, Grandpre was no longer conversing with the judges.
Howie Mandel Gave Voices of Hope Children’s Choir Negative Comments
It’s clear that Grandpre was kidding when she agreed with Cowell’s statement, considering Mandel was rather negative. If you missed it, Mandel wasn’t very nice to this group.
“I think what you do is wonderful,” Mandel said during the judges comments. “That being said on a show called AGT All-Stars this doesn’t, for me, personally rise above a really nice school assembly.”
Mandel tried to save himself from being flamed by AGT fans, explaining that his comments were only his opinion, but the audience wasn’t buying it. As he tries to save himself, the audience is booing and giving various thumbs down. Luckily, Grandpre was able to retaliate quickly.
“Howie when was the last time you were at a school assembly?” she said.
Cowell responded, joking that it had been 100 years since Mandel was last at a school assembly. Aside from Mandel’s hate, Voices of Hope Children’s Choir got positive comments from the judging panel.
Why Did He Say This?
Ahead of Voices of Hope Children’s Choir’s performance, the show’s background package featured Mandel’s comments from their previous performance. For those who may not remember, Voices of Hope Children’s Choir took the AGT stage for the first time in 2018 after being founded in 2015.
The group auditioned singing “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman and earned three yeses and one no, from Mandel. In the Judge Cuts, the group returned singing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana, with clear improvements. Guest judge Ken Jeong was so impressed with the group that he gave them his Golden Buzzer.
They went on in the competition, until the semifinals, where their journey ended. Within their final performance, they sang “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. They were one of the acts up for the Instant Save, but were unfortunately eliminated after Mandel picked Duo Transcend.
Since Mandel was never a fan of the group, fans weren’t surprised when he picked the acrobatic duo over the choir. Voices of Hope Children’s Choir is the first and only Golden Buzzer act to lose a Judges Choice vote in the semifinal.
