Olly Murs Gives James Arthur 'The Benefit of The Doubt'

Olly Murs has lent his support to James Arthur in the wake of the storm caused by his controversial rap song.

!Arthur quit Twitter last week after celebrities including Frankie Boyle and Matt Lucas slammed him for a diss track he recorded aimed at unsigned rapper Micky Worthless.

Despite apologising shortly before his Twitter exit, the firestorm erupted again when James’ former X Factor comrade Lucy Spraggan published angry text messages that she allegedly received from him.

Sharing his thoughts on events, fellow X Factor graduate Olly Murs believes that James should be given “the benefit of the doubt” because he apologised.

Referring to the song’s lyrics, Olly said: “To be fair to James he did comment and he made a very good statement saying, 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it'.”

He continued to Digital Spy: "But, look, he's got a couple of weeks off I suppose to get himself back to scratch. He's a talented lad, he's got a great voice, great ability and hopefully he bounces back.

"There's always artists out there that cause controversy... at the moment he's going through a tough time.

"I just think sometimes when your back's against the wall you just say things and you probably don't mean it. So I give him the benefit of the doubt."

On Friday, James’ management announced he was taking a break from upcoming engagements for ‘several days’ so he could rest.

His representative said: "Unfortunately James Arthur has been diagnosed with acute exhaustion and instructed to rest for several days by his doctor.

"Regretfully, he has been forced to cancel all engagements during this period. James would like to apologise to his fans for any disappointment caused to them by these cancellations and he hopes to get back to full health as soon as possible."