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Simon Cowell: Why Paula Abdul's 'X Factor' Deal Closed at Last Minute

7:21 PM PDT 5/8/2011 by Shirley Halperin, Kimberly Nordyke

"I would've canceled" the first round of judges' auditions Sunday "if her deal hadn't closed in time," he says.

Simon Cowell blames attorneys for the fact that Paula Abdul's deal to serve as a judge on Cowell's The X Factor closed at the eleventh hour Sunday -- just as the judges' rounds of auditions were about to start.

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