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"will.i.am has revealed that he felt he had to stand up for Cheryl Cole following her axe from The X Factor USA in 2011. The Voice coach told The Sun that he had to &amp;quot;fight&amp;quot; for Cole, who turned down an offer to return to the UK version of the talent show after she was cut from Cowell&amp;#039;s American venture.  will.i.am was managing Cole when the drama unfolded, leading Cowell to blame the rapper for her refusal to return to the British version of The X Factor. will.i.am said: &amp;quot;When I see Simon now it is all fresh. But with the incident that happened with Cheryl, I was like, &amp;#039;Hey Simon, Cheryl asked me to manage her, I have to fight for her, but I hope it doesn&amp;#039;t change how you view me as an artist&amp;#039;. &amp;quot;It was just wrong what happened to her and I stuck my neck out to fight for her.&amp;quot;  Despite the tensions, will.i.am revealed that he is on a better standing with Cowell. He said: &amp;quot;But since then relationships have been mended. I could have burned myself, but that didn&amp;#039;t happen and hats off to Simon for that. &amp;quot;It could have ended up bad but it ended up great.   &amp;quot;I mentored with Britney on American X Factor&amp;#039;s Judges&amp;#039; Houses last year even though I&amp;#039;m on a competing show to Simon&amp;#039;s in the UK. This is a competitive world so it just shows Simon&amp;#039;s character. &amp;quot;People can paint him to look bad, they can do whatever they want, but he is all right in my book. I have no qualms with Simon as a person.&amp;quot; Last month, it was reported that Cowell is keen for Cole to return to The X Factor USA following the departure of LA Reid and Britney Spears from the panel. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor/news/a474831/william-i-had-to-stand-up-for-cheryl-cole-over-x-factor-axe/>