Music mogul Simon Cowell snubbed a dinner party invite from newly appointed U.S. president Barack Obama - insisting he was too busy to make time for the American leader.

The American Idol judge boasted to U.S. chatshow host Jay Leno that he was invited to meet the new president at the White House - but canceled due to his hectic TV schedule.

He told the talkshow host, "He wanted to have dinner and our diaries didn't quite match. We just didn't quite connect." A shocked Leno replied, "And what were you doing - whitening your teeth? Fixing your hair?"

Obama recently likened U.S. capital Washington D.C. to Cowell's TV show, saying: "I do think in Washington it's a little bit like American Idol. But everybody is Simon Cowell. Everybody's got an opinion." (AV/WNTSU/MJ)

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