Sa isang video, nagpahayag ng pagkabahala si Cowell sa pamamayagpag ng Korean group gaya ng BTS at BLACKPINK kaya nais nitong palitan ang katawagan na “K-Pop” bilang “UK-Pop.”
Kasabay ito ng pag-anunsyo niya na magkakaroon ng X Factor: The Band sa Disyembre na naglalayong makadiskubre ng mga bagong grupo ng mang-aawit na maaaring itapat sa mga K-Pop group.
Ani Cowell, ‘Right now K-Pop you could argue is ruling the world. Now it’s time for UK-Pop.’
Marami sa mga reaksyon ay pawang negatibo. Halimbawa ang mga sumusunod :
‘I never thought I’d see the day where kpop Stans are united bc we collectively agree Simon cowell and ukpop is a joke.’
‘BTS really got everyone so threatened that companies are making korean groups specifically for the west and then simon cowell starting this whole ukpop thing The way I’m laughing ✋’
“Does Simon Cowell realise that he’s just a (clown emoji)? Seriously I’m laughing so hard right now… UKPop.”
“Simon Cowell is so bothered by bts success he’s making a whole reality to create a white group to “take” the title of biggest group in the world from an asian band,, this is so..”
“Omg what is simon cowell doing?? bruh tf do you mean “uk-pop” that’s literally just pop.”
Kasama sa video ang panawagan ni Cowell para sa audition ng X Factor : The Band.
Si Cowell ay responsable sa sikat na grupong One Direction at sa girl group na Little Mix.