Danni Minogue Quotes Rumors of "X-Factor"'s Danyl Johnson's Sexuality On-Air. Shocks Even Simon Cowell

Contestant Danyl Johnson starts off smoldering and confident.

Last night, Britain's X-Factor, in many ways the successor to Pop Idol, aired its first live show. Audition standout Danyl Johnson came onstage and performed a confident, smoldering version of Jennifer Hudson's And I Am Telling You that brought the crowd, and even resident curmudgeon Simon Cowell, to their feet.

It also put Dannii Minogue's feet in her mouth.

How do those Christian Louboutin heels taste, Dannii?

I haven't been following Danyl closely, though by all accounts he's a frontrunner and a fan favorite. And there have been rumors in the press that he's bisexual which Danyl himself has fueled. These rumors are nowhere near as loud, or as well documented as say, Adam Lambert being gay this past spring, who had left pictures of himself making out with his boyfriend online. 

So after Louis Walsh, who was mere minutes from finding out about Stephen Gately's death, warned Danyl that he needed to make himself more likable if he wanted to win, Dannii jumped in and showed 11 million viewers what unlikeble really was:

That was a real X Factor performance but if we're to believe everything we read in the papers then you didn't need to change the gender reference in it.

The entire arena fell silent, and Simon Cowell leaned behind Cheryl Cole and asked, mostly off-mic, what Dannii had said, and she had the audacity to repeat the entire thing again, at full volume. As Danyl wiped a tear from his face onstage, Cowell was having none of it, and told Dannii:

You can forget playing any of those games with him. I'm not having that. This guy sang his heart out. Give him some credit.

Dannii more than took the wind out of Danyl's sails.

After Cheryl warning Danyl again that it was a fine line between confident and arrogant, Cowell's critique was supportive to the point of invoking Paula Abdul, "One of the best performances I've ever heard in my life."

In response for calls from the media and the public for X-Factor to fire Dannii from her spot at the judges table, Dannii has issued a classic non-apology, which depending on how Danyl chooses to present himself, may make it all worse:

I want to clear up exactly what happened on last night's X Factor show and post my sincere apologies to anyone who took offence. I made a comment about Danyl changing the lyrics of his song.

It was meant to be a humorous moment about the fact he had an opportunity to have fun with his song. An openly bi-sexual guy singing a song that is lyrically a 'girls' song'. Danyl and I were joking about the very same thing in rehearsals on Friday, so it carried on to the show. I'd like to apologise to anyone that was offended by my comments, it was never my intention.

The problem here is that Danyl isn't openly bisexual - at least not on the scale of the X-Factor audience. And it's unlikely the 27-year-old will be able to address the issue in a way that will give him the control of his own coming out process as we all deserve.

Simon wasn't subtle about calling Dannii down for her comments.

The applause for Simon Cowell was thunderous when he shut Dannii down, which is something I, as an American, am certainly not used to hearing. But when I watch the clip, I found myself cheering right along. I also came to believe that Cowell's sophomoric sniping with Ryan Seacrest is just that - careless, but without malicious intent.

As for Dannii, sister to a certified gay icon, I'm not so sure.

Update: Viewing the results show, Dannii repeated the above apology nearly word for word, and Simon jumped in to say he may have overreacted in the moment, being protective of his artist. He also says in defense of Dannii "She's the last person in the world who would ever do anything offensive."

Side note - why does Simon dress so much better from X-Factor than American Idol?

It's not that I disagree with Simon about Dannii - I personally find it unlikely someone with her life experience would hold any malice towards someone's sexuality. But I do think she was extremely careless and cavalier with information that wasn't hers to share, in an environment that sharing that information could do great harm to Danyl.

And despite Simon and Dannii both stating the Danyl assures them he wasn't bothered at all, everyone with a television set saw his face change when she said it.

I, unlike some of the British press, don't stand here accusing her of homophobia. I do charge her with callous disregard of a vulnerable human being.

What do you guys think?