Simon Cowell Rushes to Defense of Antonella Barba

And you thought Simon Cowell was just plain mean.

Turns out the American Idol judge can be quite sympathetic when it comes to hot and horny contestants named Antonella Barba.

Cowell has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the scandalous photos of this hopeful singer.

"I think it's disgraceful that so-called friends would sell these pictures," he told People magazine at a Playboy Mansion party for the E! show The Girls Next Door and the launch of the new Ryan Seacrest-produced reality series Paradise City. "It's private property. I really, really have a problem with that â€" big problem."

Simon is one of the few males out there that have a problem with Antonella Barba pics. But we see his point.

Cowell also had a point to make about this year's batch of competitors.

"If you want to do as well as someone like Jennifer Hudson you've got to be great, and we're not seeing enough great, but they're getting better ...We're going to weed out the bad ones."

After last night, maybe Simon has a better opinion of a few Idol ladies. Melinda Doolittle, for instance, was mighty impressive.