Is American Idol Racist?

[singingsparrow]

entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=156911

According to Sir Elton John, he was impressed with the performance of three black females on the show, who have been ranked all at the bottom currently.

Despite Jennifer Hudson, La Toya London and Fantasia Barrino being praised by the show's judges, they have been consistently ranked at the bottom.

Is this a racially motivated act or is it all a coincidence?

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[Love Plastic Love]

....
I almost think its the other way around. The judges have been screaming Fantasia and Latoya's praises...yet they do not connect with the audience. By this time last year, Ruben and Clay had a distinct set of fans loyal to them. No contestant this year has that. There are no frontrunners. (well a group of 3-4 front runners at that)

[crash46]

Fantasia's still in this? No race cards will be played by me, but the fact that she's still around solidifies my claim that there has never been a performer that's any good on the show. She was awful and I had immense hatred of her personality both times I got the chance to witness it.

And then I said: "Yeah, she's probably gonna win".

[ExActLy99]

No, I also think it has been the other way around, but I'm not going to say much because I'm not rascist and don't want to be accused of being one. This season those 3 black females shouldn't have gone, nobody should've gone until after that red-headed freak John Steven, but you know there are still 2 or 3 black contestants left? That's a large number considering blacks are a minority, at least they beat out the white people. Who knows, maybe just a bunch of rascists people watch American Idol, because I don't!

[Ragin]

Let's see, Clay Aiken has more fans than Ruben Studdard. Clay Aiken sells more albums as a result. Ruben Studdard won American Idol last year.

Racist?

Hardly.

[Bob]

there's not front-runner NOT b/c they aren't as good this year, but b/c there are better people. Clay and Ruben were frontrunners b/c only one other contestant was legitimately that talented.

Fantasia is VERY talented, I don't care what some of you all say, she really really is. Latoya is VERY talented. Jennifer's got an amazing set of pipes.

Let's say Clay and Ruben are around the level of Latoya and Jennifer. Jennifer around the level of Kimberley.

Diana, Jasmine, and George are better than Trenyce, Josh, and Carmen.

SOoo this year's better.

[jimmy74747]

Not racist at all. People vote for who they like. I by "like" I mean a combonation of voice, looks, and personality. Jennifer only had one of the three, and was not connecting at all with most of the audience. Thats why she's gone, not race.

George has connected with the audience, as Ruben did last year. People like them. LaToya's problem is she doesn't have personality and seems too reserved for the pop audience.

And I agree there is no front runner this year. Anybody can go at any time.

[Love Plastic Love]

Bob-I wasnt trying to imply none of them were talented. I just honestly believe they all have problems really connecting with the audience. Somehow, something about Clay, Ruben, and even Kelly really made them stand out. They managed to gain a fanbase, a strong loyal one, and a large one.
None of the contestants this year have been able to spark that type of large loyal fanbase. And thats why there is no front runner.

[strong4PMB!]

No.

[crash46]

Poetry said:

Bob-I wasnt trying to imply none of them were talented.

Well let it be known that I was. The show is just a bunch of people trying to become famous by living in another popular artist's shadow. Not a hint of originality from any of the contestants still alive. Week after week they keep coming back, mimicking their hearts off, resulting in sub-par performances every single time. None of them are any good.

[reception]

No.

[Gorminako]

It's as racist as the voting audience is. I don't see any sign of racism by the judges or MC or format.

[Gorminako]

I think a lot of votes, at least until last week, were cast for other reasons than talent: for the cutest or most endearing or innocent-looking (John Red); to spite the judges, especially Simon; or because they were afraid that somebody they liked might not get enough votes to stay on because of a poor performance, and they assumed (erroneously) that the ones that deserved to stay (including Jennifer) would get enough votes.

They may have learned their lesson from the week before when the 3 best performers had the 3 lowest vote scores. From now on I expect votes to be based more on talent though we'll surely still get plenty for cuteness and likeability as well.

These are my predicitions based on how well their performances are:

As soon as the audience has decided which of the divas they prefer (and lately it seems to be going Latoya's way), the loser will go, assuming there are no other notably poor performances that night. However, as of now, Latoya can afford a mediocre performance, and keep in there for now. It's unlikely that both Latoya and Fantasia will be the final two, so Fantasia has to be at her best every night from now on.

Diana, who has hung around longer than I thought she deserved, had a good performance last time. As long as she can keep up to that level or improve, she'll say, but I wouldn't bet on it.

George has the talent, but not the consistency. If he can get it together consistently from now on, he could go on to make the final two, but if he blows another one, he's in danger of being booted.

Jasmine has been consistently singing at a medium level, but she is adorable and enjoyable to watch, so as long as there is someone else singing mediocre or worse, she should stay in. It's highly unlikely she'll be in the final two, but she could make the final three.

Latoya is my pick to go all the way, but by no means is it certain.

[Brethren]

Let's see. There is an Asian on the show (Jasmine), Hispanic (Diana), and now, three African American in the top five (George, LaToya and Fantasia).

No white or caucasian in sight. Yes, there is racism alright. Racism discriminating the whites .

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

jimmy74747 said:

Not racist at all.  People vote for who they like.  I by "like" I mean a combonation of voice, looks, and personality.  Jennifer only had one of the three, and was not connecting at all with most of the audience.  Thats why she's gone, not race.

George has connected with the audience, as Ruben did last year.  People like them.  LaToya's problem is she doesn't have personality and seems too reserved for the pop audience.

And I agree there is no front runner this year.  Anybody can go at any time.

Actually alot of her fanbase didn't get a chance to vote because there was a poweroutage in the area where she has the strongest fanbase. I don't think the show is racist but that doesn't mean that I think the voters on both sides aren't wether or not they are willing to admit.

[KikiMets]

I don't think that the voting is racist. The audition episodes are another story. It seemed to me that of the auditions the producers chose to air (key words: that the producers chose to air), a disproportionate number of the embarrassingly bad singers were Asian and most of the auditioners with bad attitudes were black. C'mon, sucky vocals and gigantic egos know no color, something that I felt the show went out of its way not to reflect.

[strong4PMB!]

The only racism that I've noticed on AI is when Simon told Alexis Lopez on AI1 that she could be the next Latin superstar ("like Thalia"), but not the "American Idol."