RUMOR: Simon Cowell Wants Britney Spears Announcement On 'American Idol' Finale

Whoa.

We're past "shots across the bow" at this point. With pop icon Britney Spears' deal to judge the second season of FOX's "The X Factor" nearly done, Hollywood Life reports that creator and executive producer Simon Cowell wants the announcement made on no less than the show he ditched to start his current one - this season's "American Idol" finale.

That's not a shot across the bow. That's Cowell aiming squarely between someone's eyes.

"The rumors are officially 100-percent true. She has signed the documents and the conservators have signed off on it as well," a source claimed.

Hmm, wonder about how well this would go over?

It would be an out-and-out lie to say there have been "no hard feelings" since Cowell's 2010 departure from the "Idol" judging chair he'd occupied since the show's 2002 debut. It hasn't exactly been all Cowell's talking, though. During the 2012 Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, original and current "Idol" judge Randy Jackson took some passive-aggressive shots at "The X Factor" ratings and its similarities to "Idol".

"Simon and Paula [Abdul} are dear friends of ours," Jackson told CNN. "They started this whole 'Idol' tradition with us. I think that 'Idol' is still the best TV show that's come on anywhere. We're the original, we kind of invented this whole game that everybody's now copying, and I say that ['The X Factor' is] copying it, right?

"So, I mean, listen, I mean, Simon's done well with his show, probably not the expectations that he wanted, but you know, we wish him well and you know we've gone on with this and done well," Jackson added.