S Club 3 have responded to comments made by former S Club 7 member Paul Cattermole in a recent interview with NME where he jokingly branded his ex-bandmate Jo O’Meara as “the bully from Essex”.
Cattermole discussed a number of S Club-related topics in his NME interview this week, including his viral BRIT Award auction, inter-band tensions and his thoughts on O’Meara’s introduction to S Club 3 in 2008.
“Me and Bradley were doing [S Club] for about two years – and then Jo came along,” Cattermole recalled. “That bully from Essex came along and bullied her way into the situation,” he added, with a laugh.
While a representative for O’Meara declined to directly respond to Cattermole’s comments, they did provide a full statement on behalf of S Club 3 to give their perspective on the situation [via Huff Post UK].
“Prior to 2008, Bradley McIntosh and Paul Cattermole were doing a number of DJ sets which proved to be successful and due to their success we, SLNB [Management]/ Loco Talent [Agent], approached Jo O’Meara in 2008 to ask if she would be interested in working in a new project called SC3. Jo agreed and from that point onwards they have been working ever since.
“A number of years later, Tina Barrett was also approached by us and agreed to join in the project,” the statement adds.
“In 2015 Paul made a decision that he no longer wanted to be part of the project as he wanted to concentrate more on acting. The door was always left open for Paul to return to the project if ever he wanted to.
“We wish Paul all the best in his future endeavours.”