Simon Cowell has blasted Zayn Malik as "rude" for slamming One Direction's music.

Zayn Malik

Zayn Malik

The music mogul was furious with Zayn, 22, for slamming the band's music as "generic" and claiming he quit because he wanted to make "real music" and said his comments were disrespectful to the group and those who worked with them.

He told the Sunday Mirror: "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.

"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.

"Life could have been a lot worse, right?"

Simon put One Direction - Zayn, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson - together on 'The X Factor' and signed them to his record label but Zayn left the band earlier this year.

And he admitted that he was never really a fan of the group's music.

He said: "I wasn't 100 per cent behind the music. It wasn't me.

"It was music that was already given to us, and we were told this is what is going to sell to these people.

"As much as we were the biggest, most famous boy band in the world, it felt weird. We were told to be happy about something that we weren't happy about.

"Whenever I would suggest something, it was like it didn't fit us. There was just a general conception that the management already had of what they want for the band, and I just wasn't convinced with what we were selling."

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