Britain's Got Talent judge and music mogul Simon Cowell has reportedly encouraged transgender men to audition for his latest work venture.
The 64-year-old is holding auditions around the country for budding male singers in the hopes of creating a boy band to rival the success of One Direction.
The process is billed to be filmed and brought to screens in a Netflix documentary series titled The Midas Touch.
However, the project has hit headlines already after onlookers claimed to have spotted a rather underwhelming number of people turning up for auditions in Liverpool.
Onlookers have been quoted as saying that just 40 people turned up to perform at a venue that supposedly had been prepared for a vastly higher number of auditionees - although Cowell has since stated over 200 auditioned.
Now, according to The Sun, Cowell and The Midas Touch bosses have decided to place an ad on the casting site StarNow in which transgender men are open to apply.
Simon Cowell launched his hunt for the next big boy band earlier this year
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A source told the publication about the decision: "Simon knows he has to change with the times and loves being a trailblazer.
"He thinks it could be a game-changer and shows he understands how progressive the industry is."
GB News has contacted Cowell's representatives for comment on the reports.
Cowell has been vocal about his thought process in launching the ambitious project, speaking on ITV's This Morning on Friday to explain why the new show's audition process differs from the likes of the X Factor or BGT.
"There isn't [a boy band]. I keep thinking and waiting, 'When is the next big UK band gonna come along?'... Girl bands, boy bands, when it works it's brilliant," he said.
"However, it's very rare that they form themselves. So going back to Spice Girls, somebody had that idea!
"And I've done a lot of bands over the years where you just put really talented people together and hope it works. And since there hasn't been one, I just thought I'm gonna do it.
"I've done it in a very different way because we just don't know who's gonna turn up until it happens.
"It was like sending out a party invitation and not having a clue who was gonna turn up so I kind of thought, 'You know what? If I see one person in Liverpool, that's enough', in terms of what I'm looking for. And we saw about 250 people over two days and we managed to see everyone."
But it isn't just the lack of moguls putting bands together that Cowell cites as a reason for the lack of presence in today's charts as he's also blamed social media.
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Simon Cowell is hoping to find the next One Direction
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He said on Greatest Hits Radio earlier this week: "The reality is that every day something like 200,000 songs are uploaded [to social media] so weirdly less people are getting signed, and less people are breaking worldwide.
"It’s the worst I’ve ever known it since I’ve been in the music business.
"Without Eurovision, Sam Ryder wouldn’t have got signed – there has to be a platform."
Auditions for Cowell's new boy band search head to Dublin and London in the coming weeks.
