The Reality TV Singing Competition Show American Idol has become a cult classic in the history of American Television since its inception in 2002. The seventeen seasons of American Idol have produced several big stars in the music industry including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry, and Clay Aiken, to name a few. Despite the show’s heavy success over the years, there have also been several controversies that made national headlines. With that being said, here are 7 of the Most Memorable American Idol Controversies:
Contestant Joanna Pacitti made the Top 36 (semifinals for that season) of American Idol Season 8. However, before she could perform in the semifinals, she was dismissed from the show by producers after being deemed “ineligible to compete”. The reasons for this were due to her previous record deal and released an album (The Crazy Life) with Geffen Records. In addition, it was rumored at the time that Pacitti had personal connections to two executives from 19 Entertainment, one of the companies that produce American Idol.
The two new judges on Season 12 of American Idol butted heads with each other all season long. During auditions in Charlotte, a leaked video (before Season 12 aired) was released by TMZ of Minaj going on a tirade against Carey, stating at one point “I’m not going to put up with her f**king highness anymore.” It was claimed that the Minaj said off-camera, “If I had a gun, I would shoot [Carey].”, a claim that the rapper denied. Tensions between the two continued throughout the rest of the season and neither judge returned for Season 13 of American Idol.
During Season 5 of American Idol, fans of the show were shocked when Chris Daughtry, the favorite to win that season, was shockingly eliminated in fourth place. Even the judges, the three surviving contestants, and Daughtry himself were surprised. After his elimination, some voters claimed that their phone call votes for Daughtry were misrouted to eventual runner-up Katharine McPhee’s lines as they heard her recorded message of thanking fans for voting for her. Some other cases with the voting issues also included some of the intended votes for Daughtry going to the eventual third-place finisher Elliot Yamin.
Frenchie Davis (on the right) made the Top 32 on Season 2 of American Idol in 2003. However, before she could perform in the semifinals, she was disqualified by producers when racy photos of her surfaced on the internet. Davis stated in interviews that while she was honest with American Idol producers about taking the photos when filling out the show’s paperwork, she was kicked off because the producers decided that American Idol was a family show and believed the content of the photos, photos, her posing topless in underwear, was inappropriate.
However, Season 6 Semifinalist Antonella Barbra (on the left) wasn’t disqualified from American Idol when an anonymous source leaked several semi-nude photos of her during the Top 16 Week (the last semifinal round before the finals, which is the Top 12). When Barbra wasn’t kicked off, it raised controversy and questions in double standards as Davis is black and overweight while Barbra is white and thin.
American Idol has faced criticism in terms of gender and ethnic bias when, for five consecutive seasons (Seasons 7-11), the winner was a “White Guy With Guitar” (WGWG). The winners of those five seasons were David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery, and Phillip Phillips. Critics complained that the likely winner of the show had become too predictable due to the string of successes by the WGWGs. Critics also pointed out that the attractiveness and personalities of the WGWGs to younger and older female fans influenced the results as well.
Season 12 of American Idol saw the results of the Top 10 (the start of the finals that season) with all 5 male finalists finishing 6th-10th place and all 5 female finalists finishing 1st-5th place. This was the first time in the show’s history where all the contestants of one gender were voted off before anyone of the opposite gender was. The elimination of 6th place finisher Lazaro Arbos (the last remaining male contestant) meant that winner of American Idol that year was going to be a female for the first time since Season 6 when Jordin Sparks won. The show poked fun at The WGWG controversy in the video below during the Season 12 finale.
During the Top 7 Week of American Idol Season 3, all three female African American singers, LaToya London, Jennifer Hudson, and Fantasia Barrino, dubbed “The Three Divas” shockingly landed in the bottom 3 that week. This produced one of the most shocking moments and eliminations in American Idol‘s history as Hudson was the one voted off. Singer Elton John, who served as a mentor earlier in the season, called the result of The Three Divas being in the bottom 3 “Incredibly racist”. Despite Elton John’s comments, Barrino went on to win American Idol that year while London finished fourth overall.
The final two of American Idol Season 8 were Adam Lambert (on the left) and Kris Allen (on the right) and many expected Lambert to win the entire competition from the start. Everyone was in for a shock though when Allen was announced as the winner. Allen’s upset victory caused a controversy known as “Textgate”.
AT&T, one of American Idol‘s main sponsors, admitted to providing free cellphones at watch parties in Arkansas (Allen’s home state) and AT&T employees taught fans how to send ‘power texts’ with only a single click of a button. One fan admitted that she voted for Allen via the ‘power texts’ as many as 10,840 times. This caused outrage from Adam Lambert fans despite AT&T’s claims that they didn’t attempt to fix the contest. FOX eventually released a statement that an independent monitor was used for the voting system to ensure the results were fair and accurate.
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