Lloyd Webber was criticised by some viewers for singling out James for criticism over things he had written on Twitter, and for encouraging tabloid allegations that the 23-year-old had been acting like a diva backstage.
However, the final four singers hoping to land the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar said that Lloyd Webber had every right to pull James up for his behaviour behind-the-scenes.
"It was a strange one really and it's difficult, but Lloyd Webber is the man in control," said David Hunter. "It's his show. At the end of the day the guy who wins this competition will be playing the lead role in an incredibly huge arena tour and he needs to be on his side I suppose."
Rory Taylor commented: "I think it was a tough one last night, with Nathan and Roger [Wright] in the bottom two. But I think that what everyone has to remember is that unlike a lot of shows, Andrew actually put a lot of time into this.
"From early in the morning to after the show, he is here. I think his comments are based a lot more on us as people and the process that we've been going through in the day, than on the show."
Ben Forster claimed that he hadn't yet seen the comments from Lloyd Webber, but said it was sad to see Nathan go because they were "close friends". Meanwhile, Wright claimed that saying goodbye to any of the remaining contestants was "sad", but argued that they had to all "move on".
James spoke on This Morning earlier today and revealed that he has plans to crack the US after being dumped off the ITV1 show.
"I'm going off to America, which is really exciting - I've had my visa come through!" he said. "This show has inspired me to go and reach my dreams and find my place I suppose.
"Maybe it's not in the UK... maybe I'm too much! My ultimate dream? I want to front a rock band and I know we're not in the '80s but there's got to be somewhere out there who's going to want that."
