Simon Cowell Rips God-Awful ‘America’s Got Talent’ Performance: “It Was Like Watching a Murder”

Simon Cowell is known for giving harsh criticism, but on Tuesday night, he took things up a notch when he laid into America’s Got Talent contestants Nick and Lindsay Williams for their terrible performance. In what may have been the weirdest three minutes in viewers’ lives, the Williamses performed a gothic opera knife-throwing act set to Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” (yes, you read that correctly). When all was said and done, the judges were stunned silent — except for Cowell, who told the couple that their act was “the worst live performance [he’s] ever seen.” Added the notoriously vicious judge, “It was like watching a murder.”

At the very least, the Williamses’ performance was original. As Nick sang Cash’s iconic song, he began to pelt Lindsay with knives, and then she strapped him to a board and did the same (check out their wacko performance above). After the knife-throwing portion of their act concluded, Lindsay picked up a violin and then… hit her partner with bottles. They wrapped things up with a sound bottle smash to the head, which was slightly off-rhythm with Nick’s final note, but honestly, whatever.

When all was said and done, Julianne Hough’s jaw was practically on the floor, Howie Mandel was uncontrollably laughing, and the audience was very, very confused. “Can I be honest with you?” said Cowell, the first judge to provide feedback. “What she was doing with the knife, trying to kill you, is what I was thinking when I heard you sing.” The judge went on to say that “in the history of America’s Got Talent, that was the worst live performance [he’s] ever seen” (after five years on the panel, that’s saying something). “I love you two, but everything went wrong. It was like watching a murder,” he said.

Cowell’s fellow judges seemed to agree, although they were a little nicer about their criticism. “It was so bad it that it actually ended up becoming so good,” said Hough. “It was comedy. You turned it around, and it became a comedic act.” Added Mandel, “I think you went down in a ring of fire.”

Watch Nick and Lindsay Williams’ bizarre opera-violin-knife-throwing act in the clip above, and stream the entire “Quarterfinals 2” episode on Hulu. The duo will find out their fate tonight, Wednesday, August 21, at 8/7c on NBC.

Watch America's Got Talent "Quarterfinals 2" on Hulu