Loud mouth Elton John has caused a small furore by launching a four letter word filled attack on the X Factor.

Elton, 61, made his expletive filled comments during a concert at the O2 in London on Saturday night. He is set to perform with X Factor winner Alexandra Burke at a New Year's Eve gig in London.

In between songs he thanked a packed audience of 20,000 people for coming to his Red Piano show despite the X Factor final being on TV. But he then added that he would rather have his "cock bitten off by an alsatian" than watch the X Factor.

However, his comments could come back to bite him, as X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, 20, will be on the bill when John returns to the O2 in a few weeks to play a special New Year's Eve show.

In 2003 he appeared on the show as a mentor when the show's contestants each sang one of his songs.

Embarrassingly for the singer, straight after the gig on Saturday, there were several announcements over the tannoy telling fans that Alexandra would be playing at the gig.

It is not the first time John has lashed out at the programme. Two years ago, he said: "The X Factor is a cruise ship show. I've got nothing against the people who go on - good luck to them. But I hate how they're treated.

"They're given an awful sense of stardom and pressure straight away but they're only successful until the next series. The record companies sell a lot of records and those people are gone. It's fucking cruel."