Josh Cuthbert quits Union J leaving band’s future uncertain

Union J are down to just a duo after Josh Cuthbert quit the group.

Union J made it to the live shows of The X Factor back in 2012, then as a four piece.

George Shelley quit the group in 2016 before being replaced by Casey Johnson, a former member of fellow X Factor boy band Stereo Kicks.

But Casey left last year, resulting in the original trio relaunching themselves.

A year on from that, the group is down to two after Josh Cuthbert announced he was leaving Jaymi Hensley and Jamie ‘JJ’ Hamblett.

Josh tweeted a statement: “My journey with Union J has been one to remember, and something I will cherish forever. But after seven years, I feel like now is the right time for me to leave the band.

“I’d like to apologise to my incredible fans if I’ve let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right for me and follow my heart. I have decided to leave, because I want to continue to develop my individual opportunities across entertainment and music.”

He continued: “I have so many beautiful memories with them and have friends for life in the boys and wish JJ and Jaymi the best for the future. Thank you for your continued support, it’s down to you all that I am where I am today and you all mean the world to me.”

Explaining his decision to leave in an interview with The Sun newspaper, Josh added: “To be successful you have to dedicate all of your time to it, and to be completely honest, I just don’t have the time as much as I used to, to dedicate everything and all of my time to the band, and I feel that’s unfair to the rest of the guys.

“I spoke to them on the phone and I just hope that they support me, I want to stay friends with the boys, I love them.”

Josh’s fellow Union J members appeared to issue a statement via the group’s official Twitter account.

A now-deleted statement said: “This statement should have come to you as a joint statement. Sadly once again that decision was taken into ones personal matters. There is no beef whatsover, things should have just been handled differently.”