‘X Factor’s’ LeRoy Bell Can Laugh At His Lip Syncing Fumble: ‘It’s Like a Spoof’

Sure, fans are up in arms about the fact that The X Factor contestants perform the group ensembles with prerecorded vocals, but the guy who caused the stir by missing his cue, LeRoy Bell, says he can laugh at the foible – and some of his fellow contestants are laughing at him too.

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“When I saw it, I just fell out laughing,” Bell, 60, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I was like, ‘What the heck?’ It’s like a spoof or something.”

It was treated like a major deception by some fans, launching countless cries of foul play on the part of the Fox show. But, the practice of singing to prerecorded vocals on songs isn’t unique to The X Factor, though the show had to fully admit to the practice after Bell’s mistake caught the attention of fans.

“The whole thing is people don’t know that we prerecord those performances and it’s only for that ensemble thing where we have the whole cast, because we have so much stuff to learn every week,” Bell explains.

“We have to have a ‘save me’ song and we have another song,” the Wash. resident explains. “So, we don’t want to waste time doing the ensemble song. So, we prerecord it and that’s that. But, I was having one of those moments – I wasn’t paying attention. It’s kind of funny, though.”

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And while Fox may not have been laughing when it had to answer to the accusations of lip syncing, some of Bell’s fellow contestants admit they’ve been giving the seasoned singer some hell over it. “Oh yeah, they tease me all the time,” Bell says.

“That’s the best part of the competition for us,” jokes Leeland Stephenson (aka Trace Kennedy), one of the members of The Stereo Hogzz. “Of any video before I go to sleep every night, I at least watch it ten times and I just think, ‘Hm, that’s why you don’t put people on there that’s 60 years old.’ ”

“He’s a good sport about it,” the singer continues. “He’s smiling. We joke about it… We were kind of down about being in the bottom two, but then you go home and see LeRoy’s mistake and it’s all good.”

Astro, on the other hand, keeps his laughter to himself. “I don’t tease him, but I watch it on YouTube all the time and laugh.”

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“I have no reason to laugh, because I messed up my lines,” the 15-year-old MC from Brooklyn admits to THR. “It was a fun night, I think it was a great performance overall. People make mistakes. Jay Z and Kanye made a huge mistake at the very first ‘Watch The Throne’ show and that’s big. So, we all make mistakes.”

Email: Jethro.Nededog@thr.com; Twitter: @TheRealJethro