Saara Aalto says there needs to be an LGBT judge on X Factor
Finnish singer Saara Aalto has called for better LGBT representation on TV, saying she should have been picked as a judge on the UK’s new season of X Factor.
When asked if she thought there should be an LGBT judge, Aalto told the Metro: “There should be more LGBT people on TV.”
“They should have me there… I was a judge on Finnish X Factor. My girl won. So basically I’m quite successful as a judge. I gave my acts singing lessons because I wanted to help them, I really did my best in that job.”
Aalto came runner-up in the 13th series of the X Factor in the UK in 2016, before later appearing as a judge on the Finnish version.
The UK series recently returned with Simon Cowell, Robbie Williams and his wife Ayda, and One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson as judges.
Saara Aalto took part in this year’s Eurovision
“I love Robbie, he was at my judges’ houses – Sharon was my mentor, and Robbie was there as a guest,” Aalto said. “For me it was crazy because he is a big star in Finland, and I never expected to meet him. He was super nice. I was definitely star struck. He tweeted about me during the first live shows when I did Let It Go. It was the first celebrity tweet I got.”
She added Williams was doing “a good job” before addressing the criticism he faced for asking transgender contestant Felix what his name was before he transitioned.
Aalto commented that she wouldn’t have asked that question, saying it was “very personal”.
“People who are transgender go through a lot, it’s very hard for your identity to do this change,” she said.
Robbie Williams faced criticism after he asked a transgender contestant what their name was before they transitioned (Getty)
“You kind of have to respect that quite a lot of it is really intimate. People don’t really know about those things.
“They want to understand more about those things so they might ask in a good and an interested way, so I don’t think he meant anything bad. It’s a difficult topic.”
Aalto came out earlier this year, telling Pink News: “I am very proud to be lesbian and I feel very much like I am lesbian, totally.”
Ahead of her appearance on this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in 25th place with her son Monsters, she said: “I have worked on my own mental health always. I have always been very fine with who I am and never cared about people’s opinions.”
“If people say nasty things then they are sad with their lives. If you are a balanced, positive person you don’t say bad things to each other. All those people who say bad things are miserable, and I don’t want them to affect my decisions or my life.”
