Cowell blasts Zayn Malik as 'rude'

Music mogul Simon Cowell has slammed former One Direction member Zayn Malik for his rant about the band's music.

Malik said that he left the band in March it so that he could make "real music" for a change.

Cowell reacted by saying that his words were "rude", and claimed that he would eventually rethink his opinion, reports mirror.co.uk.

"I think once he has had a chance to reflect on everything he will probably reconsider what he's said because it was a very, very democratic process in the band," said Cowell, who mentored the band while they were on the reality TV show "The X Factor".

"It is a bit rude to the people who wrote all the hits with them. And to the other band members. I mean they all wrote a lot of the stuff," he added.

Cowell dismissed Malik's complaints, as he added: "Life could have been a lot worse, right?"

Adding insult to injury after calling him "rude", Cowell admitted that he hasn't given 22-year-old Malik much thought since he sensationally quit the band sending fans of One Direction into a meltdown.

"To be honest, I don't even think about it too much because as soon as he left we sorted him out with a label who really were enthusiastic about him and then my loyalty was back with the boys," he said.