Hollywood - In a turn of events that has sent shockwaves through the FOX network and set most of the Hollywood gossip channels tittering, it was announced this morning that Paula Abdul would be dropped from the judging panel of the hit show ‘American Idol’ due to demands by co-judge Simon Cowell.

Rumors indicate that Cowell made these demands after hearing Abdul’s 1988 hit ‘Straight Up’ for the first time at a party this weekend. The cantankerous Cowell was reported to have been shocked to find out that the ‘hideous banshee-song being played’ was in fact being sung by one of his co-judges.

Sources at the party report that when Cowell arrived the DJ made an announcement indicating the next song was in honor of Cowell’s presence. When the song ‘Straight Up’ started playing sources indicated that Cowell looked confused, at first believing the song was actually a demo tape from a friend of the DJ. After being told it was one of his co-judges best known songs, Cowell appeared stunned for a few moments and then walked out.

Vanessa Pevera, a friend of Cowell, after being asked how it was possible that Cowell had never heard the song before answered, ‘Well you have to remember that Simon was in England back in the 80’s and a lot of the musical influence back then was coming from Europe, not America. Paula Abdul’s music never really registered overseas. Also, Simon was quite the partier back then. I doubt he remembers much from that entire decade.’

Inside sources at the FOX network state that Cowell was furious, and felt mislead by the network since they had ensured him before the show’s first year that Paula deserved to be on the panel and was a great singer. Cowell had been pushing for more well known female names to be on the panel.

Simon Fuller, the shows Executive Producer indicated that while they would like to keep Paula on the show, their hands are tied.

‘Our numbers indicate that the female audience is by far our largest demographic and that this audience is being drawn almost exclusively by Simon’s presence. He’s arrogant, cute, and British. The ladies can’t resist that.

During the initial scoping we had hoped that Paula would lend some credibility to the judging panel due to her being a singer and we also hoped she would draw in some of the male viewers out there. This just hasn’t happened.

While we’re sorry to have to let Paula go, we do wish her the best. We also see this as an opportunity to tweak the panel and find a person to draw the 25-40 year old male audience we’ve never been able to get.’

When asked if this meant a change in direction for the show, Fuller replied, ‘No, I wouldn’t say a change of direction for the show…just in the requirements one has to have to be a judge. We feel the panel is legitimate right now with Simon and Randy, as they both have ties to the industry. What we’re going to do is look to the male dominated market of sports for the third judge. In fact, we’re pretty sure we have our guy. We’ve been talking to John Madden’s agent the last couple days, and he says John will do it. His only condition was that we needed to provide a telestrator for him to use on the show.’