American Idol - A Tainted Outcome
Haven't seen much on the news or in the papers about the voting fiasco on the final episode of American Idol. The New York Times and probably other papers ran stories but I first heard about it by reading European newspapers. They made a bigger deal of it than the Times. One called it the biggest scandal in this country since the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush president.
It's all about AT&T, one of the show's prime sponsors, providing free phones for texting votes at parties for eventual winner Kris Allen. Also offered were instructions on how to use illegal "power texts" that cast ten votes at a time. A woman named Bobby Kierna said she voted for Allen 10,840 times. She attended a party with about 2,000 attendees.
AT&T said this was the work of a few overly-zealous employees and was not company policy. Fox, which broadcasts American Idol, has refused to reveal the number of votes for each finalist or how scores are counted. The network says it is "absolutely certain that the results of the competition are fair, accurate and verified."
There is talk that having a clean-cut Christian come out on top was preferable to having a man whose sexuality seems in question named American Idol. The fact that Adam Lambert was the most talented and almost certainly has the brightest future ahead in the business may have been of lessor importance to some. Those attending parties for Lambert were not provided phones.
I don't know who is telling the truth and who is lying but I've always been suspicious of the voting on American Idol. For the last couple of years I have felt that the majority of votes are cast by young women and cute has been of greater importance to them than talent.
It's all about AT&T, one of the show's prime sponsors, providing free phones for texting votes at parties for eventual winner Kris Allen. Also offered were instructions on how to use illegal "power texts" that cast ten votes at a time. A woman named Bobby Kierna said she voted for Allen 10,840 times. She attended a party with about 2,000 attendees.
AT&T said this was the work of a few overly-zealous employees and was not company policy. Fox, which broadcasts American Idol, has refused to reveal the number of votes for each finalist or how scores are counted. The network says it is "absolutely certain that the results of the competition are fair, accurate and verified."
There is talk that having a clean-cut Christian come out on top was preferable to having a man whose sexuality seems in question named American Idol. The fact that Adam Lambert was the most talented and almost certainly has the brightest future ahead in the business may have been of lessor importance to some. Those attending parties for Lambert were not provided phones.
I don't know who is telling the truth and who is lying but I've always been suspicious of the voting on American Idol. For the last couple of years I have felt that the majority of votes are cast by young women and cute has been of greater importance to them than talent.
The point is that even though ratings were down this year it is a very popular program with millions of viewers so shouldn't this be a bigger deal with legitimate news sources? Rumors, charges and accusations have been bombarding the Internet. Seems like someone should be checking it out.
posted by Dick Stodghill | 5/31/2009 10:48:00 AM
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