--- title: X Factor New Zealand Judges Fired for Bullying Contestant description: X Factor New Zealand judges were fired by Mediaworks for bullying contestant Josh Irvine on air because of his suit TV3 said in statement canonical: https://time.com/3745771/x-factor-nz-new-zealand-judges-fired-bullying/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-16T14:45:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:53.706Z og:title: Watch the 'Destructive' Tirade That Got These 'X-Factor NZ' Judges Fired og:description: Natalia Kills and Willy Moon went after Josh Irvine's looks and performance og:url: https://time.com/3745771/x-factor-nz-new-zealand-judges-fired-bullying/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch the 'Destructive' Tirade That Got These 'X-Factor NZ' Judges Fired twitter:description: Natalia Kills and Willy Moon went after Josh Irvine's looks and performance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch the 'Destructive' Tirade That Got These _X-Factor New Zealand_ Judges Fired > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 16, 2015 2:45 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 16, 2015 2:45 PM UTC Two [_X Factor_ New Zealand](https://www.facebook.com/TV3NZ/posts/10152652400452001) judges were fired because they went overboard critiquing a contestant’s performance Sunday evening. British singer Natalia Kills said that 25-year-old Josh Irvine completely copied her husband and fellow judge Willy Moon’s look, calling the so-called reinterpretation “artistically atrocious” and saying, “I am embarrassed to be sitting here in your presence having to even dignify you with an answer.” Moon called it “cheap” and “absurd” and said Irvine looked like “you’re going to stitch someone’s skin to your face and then kill everybody in the audience.” [In a statement](http://static.mediaworks.co.nz/tv3/xfactornews.html) posted on Facebook, TV3 said “Mediaworks has today decided that Natalia Kills and Willie Moon are no longer suitable to judge The X Factor and have removed them from the show.” Mediaworks CEO Mark Whedon called the comments “unacceptable,” [and added](http://static.mediaworks.co.nz/tv3/xfactornews.html#sthash.rygdXETI.dpuf), “We will not tolerate such destructive tirades from any of the judges.” _Read next:_ [_Why Marina and the Diamonds Wrote a Song About Rape Culture on Her New Album_](http://time.com/3745237/marina-and-the-diamonds-froot/?iid=time%5Freadnext) ### See 11 of the Worst Dictators Portrayed in Movies  Kim Jong-un - The Interview Columbia  RALPH FIENNES as Lord Voldemort in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure “HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Warner Bros.  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