(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Simon Cowell has broken his silence on the US X Factor furore, claiming he is "not a monster" for letting Cheryl Cole go from the judging panel.

The 27-year-old British songstress had already begun work on the audition process alongside Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and L.A. Reid as they searched for talent to appear in the new American edition of the music competition.

However, Cheryl was sensationally dropped from the panel at the end of last month and has been replaced by former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, who was originally lined up to co-host the show alongside British presenter Steve Jones.

Simon, who has an extensive input into the show, has been blamed for the fall out.

The music mogul has admitted he "embarrassed" his close friend and the past couple of weeks had been a nightmare.

Simon insists he supported the move to "protect" the star.

"I'm sorry. I hope we're still close friends. She's still a star. The hardest thing to accept is that everyone has painted me as a monster because I embarrassed her," he told British newspaper The Sun. "But the truth was I was protecting her. I just want people to be in the best place at the right time."

The 51-year-old insisted that Cheryl was not fired, and instead was offered more money to appear back on the UK show. Simon claims the bubbly beauty was "out of her comfort zone" in America.

"We noticed she was quieter than normal. The feeling was that she was slightly out of her comfort zone in America. The intention was to do it quietly and say to her she had an option to re-join the UK show. At the end of the day we were saying, 'Move to another show for even more money.' There was an offer of around 2.5million on the table including bonuses. How is that sacking someone?'" (C) Cover Media