Martin Gore : "Somebody should shoot Simon Cowell"

Depeche mode underfire

Depeche Mode member Martin Gore has called for "X Factor" judge Simon Cowell to be shot.

The comments from Martin Gore last week were condemned by Simon Cowell today who deplored the idea of violence, and suggested that his words "could instigate people amid continuing gun crime incidents in the U.S"

Why I am angry about weirdo gore is a ton of people have got shot this year and people.like weirdo gore encourage this.

— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) November 26, 2012

According to a report in THR, Cowell called Gore a "Weirdo", and vented anger at him:

The rant has since gone viral with many news agencies reporting on the incident. Martin Gore stated that :

“I'm not advocating violence, but I think somebody should shoot Simon Cowell."

Unfortunately his words have done the complete opposite, and drawn in criticism. Gore is not the first person to cause controversy for his comments. Thanks to Twitter's viral nature, celebrities like Piers Morgan, Donald Trump and Alec Baldwin have all had some big backlashes from edgy comments.

Gun crime is a touchy subject in the U.S and even suggesting that bodily harm should be done to someone publicly can result in a police investigation. Should this be followed up or swept under the rug?