Two judges on New Zealand's X Factor have been fired over abusive comments made during a live show.

Natalia Kills and her husband, Willy Moon, were sacked by broadcaster TV3 after tearing in to singer Joe Irvine during Sunday night's live programme.

He'd just performed his version of Michael Buble's Cry Me A River.

Natalia then said: "As an artist who respects artists' integrity and intellectual property I am disgusted at how much you have copied my husband.

"From the hair, to the suit, do you not have any value or respect for originality?

"You're a laughing stock. It's cheesy, it's disgusting. I personally found it absolutely artistically atrocious."

Cue the pantomime boos from the studio audience. But Natalia wasn't finished.

"I am embarrassed to be sitting here in your presence, even having to dignify you with an answer of my opinion."

Completely unacceptable

By this point, Joe had begun to look a bit awkward, but tried his best to defuse the situation.

"Thank you Natalia you're beautiful," he said.

It didn't work. Now it was husband Willy Moon's turn to stick the knife in.

"To me it just feels a little bit cheap and absurd. It's like Norman Bates dressing up in his mother's clothing.

"It's just a little bit creepy and I feel like you're going to stitch someone's skin to your face and kill everybody in the audience."

Not to be drowned out by the chorus of boos raining down from the audience behind her, Natalia went back for more.

"I'm going say it. It's disgusting. You make me sick.

"You have no identity. I can't stand it, I'm ashamed to be here."

Irvine has got a fan in Ed Sheeran though. The singer tweeted the contestant after he heard about the tirade.

Kills - real name Natalia Noemi Cappuccini-Sinclair - is a Bradford-born singer, best known for her 2013 single Saturday Night.

Kiwi musician Moon is most famous for his song Yeah Yeah which appeared on an iPod advert. The pair married in 2014.

Mediaworks, the owners of the show's broadcaster TV3, confirmed it's sacked the pair.

"Both Kills and Moon made comments that were completely unacceptable," said MediaWorks' chief executive, Mark Weldon.

"While the judges on X Factor are expected to provide critiques of the performances, we will not tolerate such destructive tirades from any of the judges."

Two new judges will take over Moon and Kills' teams from next week.

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