AceShowbiz - Girls Aloud star Kimberly Walsh has blasted Sir Elton John for slating the British girl band - branding his comments "nasty" and "in bad taste". The "Rocket Man" took aim at pop stars who lip-synch on stage, insisting singers such as The Saturdays and Walsh's Girls Aloud bandmate Cheryl Cole are "c**p".

Now Walsh has hit back, admitting she was "sad" to read his remarks but warning it's dangerous for him to "slag people off". In her column for Britain's OK! magazine, she writes, "Last week, I was disappointed to hear Sir Elton John slating British pop music, including Girls Aloud. I've always had a lot of respect for him so it's a shame that he said those things..."

"Elton criticized artists for miming and if you're an artist who stands there singing ballads then to lip-synch is quite ridiculous, but it's got to be relative to what type of act you are. I don't think you can criticize it so passively. Even if you have a really strong opinion, I don't think it ever pays to slag people off (insult them) in such a derogatory way, it's in bad taste."

"You can put your view across without being so nasty. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt - perhaps he was in a bad mood because (baby son) Zachary had kept him up all night!"