Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest Clash

Famed “American Idol” Brit judge Simon Cowell has been trading barbs with host Ryan Seacrest, and each week the rhetoric seems to rise a notch.

Things have gotten so bad even Oprah Winfrey has taken note.

Cowell recently appeared on Oprah’s daytime talk show, and she asked him about the on-air squabbling with Seacrest.

Cowell explained that over the years his relationship with members of the show has changed.

“They used to be more groveling towards me,” he said, adding, “As the show has gotten more successful, they got more confidence . . . and they probably dislike me more than seven years ago.”

The “Idol” maker told Winfrey that there is no time to prepare a simulated fight prior to the show. “I see Paula maybe two seconds before the show starts. Ryan, it's the same thing,” Cowell said.

He then went on to compare Seacrest to an annoying bug.

“Ryan has developed this - he's like a mosquito in your face,” Cowell said. “It's like he's flying around, and you want to swat him but he can't be bothered. That's my relationship now with Ryan.”

No one knows more about bugging people than the master mosquito himself.

In more Oprah news, lawsuits involving daytime’s reigning queen are starting to clog up the courts.

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