“The X Factor” rapper, Brian Bradley aka Astro, confessed he actually thought about leaving the show after he almost refused to perform for survival during last week’s dramatic results show. The 15 year-old also said he doesn’t believe he was actually in the bottom two with Stacy Francis because he has so many followers on Twitter.

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“Not to sound cocky,” Astro said. “But I don’t see how you can have the most followers on Twitter of all the contestants, most views on YouTube of all the contestants, and be voted in the bottom two. So, I knew something was fishy… That’s why I spazzed out.”

“I just wanted to apologize to all my fans and the people in the streets repping me and telling their friends to watch and they’re watching for the first time to see me tearing up,” he says. “That’s kind of embarrassing to Brooklyn, hip hop, and Team Astro, and all the Astro-nauts around the world. So, I just felt like I had to give a true apology to everyone.”

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Astro’s mom, Cascia Thompson, actually wanted her son to quit. What? But Astro claims he is willing to give the show another week or so. Today, two contestants/acts will be eliminated from the competition, so Astro and his big attitude will most probably be sent home.

“She knew what was going on,” he says. “She was tellin’ me, ‘Just leave. You need to leave and go home.’ It’s stupid, you know. But I told my mom, ‘Let’s at least try it one more time. Let’s get one more week in.’ ”

Seriously? Why would the producers of the show actually want to “punish” Astro? According to the little rapper, he is being punished for wearing Dr. Dre’s headphones on stage when a competitor (Sony) is a sponsor of the show. Really? Astro is too young for conspiracy theories.

An X Factor rep said in a statement: “After the public vote, Astro was in the bottom two last week. All votes are collected and tallied by an independent vote management firm. The results were certified to be true and accurate.”

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Astro, who aims to one day become bigger than Jay-Z, explained he is confident and not cocky:

“It’s a competition,” he points out. “We are all fighting to stay here. How you going to say I’m cocky? Muhammad Ali does this. It’s not cocky, it’s confidence. You going to call me arrogant for believing in myself? Come on! It’s a competitive sport. Rappin’ is the closest thing to boxing. Jay-Z said that. You gotta fight every day.”

There is one thin line between being outrageously confident and cocky. Astro is mostly just cocky. He is just a kid who is suddenly being told he is the greatest at what he does. It has to mess up with his head. Plus, Astro’s mom is delusional too because she is feeding his huge ego.

[image: Aldo Rossi /FOX]