James Arthur makes Shame-Faced Apology on X Factor Stage: I Want to Say Sorry

It was the eagerly awaited X Factor results show, but it was the first public appearance of James Arthur that had everyone talking.

Mentored by Nicole Scherzinger on last year's show, Arthur went on to win the competition. Since then the Impossible singer has sold 3 million records, been invited to turn on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, toured the UK and Europe and has just released his first album.

But as he admits, he has struggled with his new found fame. The singer most recently caused controversy after allegedly making homophobic comments in a Twitter rant.

The star caused widespread offence after a Twitter spat with unknown rapper Micky Worthless on the social networking site, after he criticised Arthur's decision to enter the ITV singing competition. Arthur responded to the comments with a rap, which included the lyric, "You f**king queer".

In an attempt to retract his remarks Arthur tweeted: "@JamesArthur23 Some of the things said in this rap can be mistaken for homophobic slurs and I assure you homophobia is something I do not believe in."

The singer was publicly condemned by comedian Matt Lucas and Coronation Street actress Beverley Callard for his use of homophobic language. He also managed to offend comedian Frankie Boyle and former X Factor winner Matt Cardle after mocking his recent sales figures and comments that he is "still around".

Cardle previously described Arthur as a "deeply unpleasant" person, adding: "The guy's ego is off the scale and that's all I'll say about him."

Following the highly publicised rows, in disgust, former fans of Arthur returned his records on iTunes and were given full refunds.

After singing his new song Recovery from his self-titled debut album, and displaying a certain amount of necessary chagrin, the 25-year-old addressed the issues of recent weeks saying: " It's been an amazing year for me with some incredible highs, paved with some terrible lows and I've made some silly mistakes, but I want to thank all the people that have stuck with me and supported me.

"I want to thank the X Factor for giving me the opportunity to do my dream job. Above all I want to say sorry for abusing my position as an X-Factor winner because I owe everything to this show."