Britney Spears, Demi Lovato Walk Off 'X Factor' Set

Britney Spears, 30, explained that she was just following her X Factor cohost, Demi Lovato‘s, lead when she walked off the set in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 9 after a drag queen auditioned with her 1999 pop song, “(You Drive Me) Crazy.” Judge L.A. Reid also left the table in reaction to the performance.

“It was just horrible,” Reid, 56, said of the rendition, during which the contestant, wearing cat glasses and a jean jacket, sang his heart out before breaking down crying on the stage, out of what Lovato interpreted as relief at a job well done, reports Us Weekly.

“I was really uncomfortable,” Lovato, 19, said, “because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s on the floor crying because he thinks he’s done such a good job.’ I felt so bad. I laughed at first, but I felt really bad,” Lovato admitted, according to Rolling Stone.

As for the walk-out, Spears appeared to instigate the mass X Factor exodus, but she claims that was not the case. “I was following her,” Spears said of Lovato. “I was taking her lead. She was like, ‘Let’s go,’ and I was like, ‘OK.’ It was our dinner break, anyway.”

Spears later returned to the table alone, without her co-judges, to break the news to the drag queen. “I really respect the tribute,” she said. “It was really nice, but I just don’t feel like it’s for X Factor. Sorry, sweetie.”

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