Simon Cowell to miss America’s Got Talent finale amid month-long absence due to surgery

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Simon Cowell will be absent from the judges table during the live finale of America’s Got Talent as he recovers from back surgery.

The famous judge, 66, will miss the two-night live finale of NBC’s reality competition show airing Tuesday and Wednesday as he continues his time off following a back surgery last month.

NBC announced Tuesday that Cowell will be replaced by British influencer KSI, who serves as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent. KSI will join Howie Mandel, Mel B, Sofía Vergara and host Terry Crews for the season 21 finale.

The Independent has reached out to NBC for further comment.

Cowell has undergone a series of operations in recent years after he broke his back in an electric bike accident in 2020.

Simon Cowell will be absent from Wednesday’s live finale (Getty)

The British music mogul stepped away from AGT in August for a routine procedure. It was reported at the time that he would be out for a few weeks, but an exact timeframe was not indicated by his team.

His absence was first addressed during the August 25 live show, when his chair remained empty at the judges’ table.

A number of guest judges went on to fill in for Cowell on the show, starting with comedian Kenan Thompson and former judge Heidi Klum.

On September 3, Cowell’s fellow judge Mandel revealed to E! News that, at that point, Cowell was “just hours out of surgery.”

“I heard that it was a success, everything’s okay,” he said.

Simon Cowell is recovering from a routine back surgery (Getty)

Mandel, 70, joked that he had not spoken to Cowell yet after his procedure because “I don’t know that, this close to surgery, if this is the first thing you need to see.”

Cowell’s injuries previously forced him to take a break during the 2020 season of Britain’s Got Talent. He was temporarily replaced by the show’s previous winner Ashley Banjo.

The injury, which saw him break his back in three places after falling off an electric bike at his home in Malibu, also forced him to miss part of AGT season 15 as he recovered from his five-hour surgery.

After he recovered, Cowell said he was “lucky to survive” the ordeal. He told OK! magazine in 2022: “I didn’t talk about it too much at the time. I kept a lot back. It was a lot worse than people thought. I had a lot of long-term nerve damage as well.”

AGT’s live finale airs Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.