James Arthur, the 2012 X Factor winner, has been binned from Simon Cowell's record label Syco. Speculation had been rife in recent months that Arthur was in danger of being dropped after a number of controversies saw him made tabloid headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The 26-year-old singer was forced to deny that he was promoting terrorism after his song 'Follow The Leader' featured the line: "I'm gonna blow up your family like a terrorist." He posted a message shortly after the incident, stating: "As far as I kow, I am still with Syco but I am exclusively singed to Sony. People look too deeply into the media circus. It's about music."

Arthur also made headlines after a series of ill-fated outburst on social media and, in one incident, he temporarily deleted his Twitter account after becoming embroiled in a row about homophobia. He also criticised his own publicity team for the messages they published on his own social media accounts.

Arthur's most recent single 'Get Down' peaked at just #96 on the UK singles' charts and was likely a big contributing factor in the label's decision to drop him. Arthur joins previous X Factor alumni Matt Cardle, Joe McElderry and Steve Brookstein as former stars of the hit television programme who have failed to achieve success after their time on the show.

Leona Lewis also left Syco last week and has signed with Island Records, a subsidiary of Sony's rival Universal.

(via Sky)