X Factor Persecution: Kitty Brucknell’s Secret Deal To Be Hated

DAY 32 of the X Factor campaign to make Kitty Brucknell a figure of controversy and hate. Following yesterday’s news that the singer’s voice has been manipulated for the telly, the Sun leads with news of a race row. The front-page headline trumpets:

“KITTY IN X FACTOR RACE ROW”

Anorak half suspects Kitty has signed a secret contract to be the show’s go-to figure for negative stories. We imagine a producer offering professional singer Kitty a deal. Sign the contract and the X Factor will make you famous – but we and the tabloids will tell the slack-jawed masses to hate you. Kitty signs. She thinks she can handle it. All publicity is good publicity, right?. But it isn’t. Being accused of racism is a slur that sticks. There is no recovery. The X Factor chews up its acts and spits them out.

The Sun begins.

Kitty Brucknell was suspected of racially abusing fellow singer Derry Mensah following a bust-up at an X Factor practice session.

Who would envy her that?

The studio incident allegedly unfolded as Derry rehearsed a song with his band The Risk. A source revealed Kitty was lying on a sofa in a practice room when the 20-year-old asked her to move.
Derry claimed Kitty lost her temper and stormed out. And he believed she said the words: “You evil black b******, f*** you Derry.”

And with that Kitty Brucknell’s career is finished. Kitty denies the accusation, as she must. But it’s all over for her.

Another singer witnessed an incident between them and Derry formally complained to Katie Hobbs, a member of the X Factor production staff. Britney Spears impersonator Kitty, 26, vehemently denied allegations she made a racist comment and the matter has now been resolved.

But the allegation is out there. It exists on the web and in print. It is front-page news.

And the Sun is playing its part is using and abusing the wannabe star:

Days ago, the privately-educated blonde, from Cheltenham, Gloucs, joined camp Johnny Robinson on a trip to The Sun’s East London HQ. But she flew into a rage and walked off when she was shown pictures of her she did not like. Members of the production team were forced to read her the riot act before she carried on her interview.

This is not news. This is bear-baiting, a tag-team bout of bullying between the X Factor control room and the tabloid.

I want to inject an element of wit into this story but I can’t. It is so utterly joyless and depressing.