On Thursday night’s The X Factor, diminutive rapper Astro (a.k.a. 15 year-old Brian Bradley) found himself in the bottom two, facing elimination, alongside singer Stacy Francis. Unlike American Idol, the judges have the final say in who gets eliminated from the bottom two (determined by fan vote) on The X Factor. A pouting Astro, finding out about his fate, took the stage for his performance saying, “I really don’t want to perform, I feel it’s unnecessary.” After being urged to rap by judge L.A. Reid, Astro did a half-hearted performance that prompted L.A. Reid to muse that the rapper had “quit” on the song.

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Still, Reid and Paula Abdul voted to oust Stacy, while Nicole Scherzinger wanted Astro gone. The judges were at a 2-1 vote, with Simon Cowell casting either the deciding vote, or bringing it to a tie (a point at which, if we understand the rules correctly, a broken pool cue would be thrown between the two and they’d have to fight to

the death). The audience had lustily booed decisions to go with Astro, and Cowell was cheered on as he lit into Astro, telling him he was disrespectful.

“No disrespect to you or this show,” Astro told Cowell, “But I just feel like if you’re going to put me in the bottom two, I don’t want to perform for you or the people who put me here.”

More boos rained down. And then the tears started flowing. Astro eventually apologized as he wiped tears away. Awwwwww.

If you want to see what Simon decided to do (Mediaite is not in the business of spoilers), or if you’d like to see Astro’s mini-tantrum as it unfolded on live television, enjoy the video below, courtesy of Fox:
Tags: Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, The X Factor