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Straddling a cannon during her performance, fans accused the 29-year-old of disrespecting Japanese culture. Show boss Simon Cowell, 57, was unimpressed with the outfit choice, calling it "ridiculous". "The costume and the wig is ridiculous! I love nuts," said Simon, before 64-year-old Louis Walsh replied: "Me too, me too." Hitting back at Simon's comments, Saara replied: "This wig and these theme gave us room to try everything."

ITV Saara Alto performs on The X Factor as a geisha

Many audience members took to social media to hit out at the ITV singing programme for the performance. "Ok I like Saara but why is she dressed like an offensively stereotypical Japanese woman singing Sound of the Underground?? #XFactor," tweeted one viewer. Another questioned: "Why have they styled Sound of the Underground into a weird racist parody of Japan?? I thought it couldn't get any worse this week #XFactor."

ITV Saara Alto performs on The X Factor

ITV X Factor star Saara Aalto was seen straddling a cannon

ITV Saara Alto performs on The X Factor as a geisha

ITV X Factor star Saara Aalto was seen straddling a cannon while singing

The costume and the wig is ridiculous! Simon Cowell

"I love Saara but why did Sharon and the producers let this racist s**t show happen? #XFactor," posted a third. A lot of other viewers could not understand the connection or the reasoning behind the staging and the song. One viewer asked: "What's with @saaraaalto's racist outfit and staging #XFactor?"

ITV X Factor act Saara Aalto dons a geisha outfit for her performance

TWITTER X Factor: Viewers took to Twitter after Saara's performance

"Nothing says Girls Aloud like Japanese culture. I mean WTF is this? #XFactor," said another. A third wrote: "The sound of the Japanese underground? #Xfactor." This is not the first time this year The X Factor has been hit with controversy, Honey G has been accused by some of being 'racist'.

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