Thursday, May 1, 2003

"HE KNOWS": Speaking of which, do you think that The Hot Button's Dave Poland is worked up again about last night's results?

You bet:
I am embarrassed by the increasingly obvious racist nature of American Idol voting. There was only one kid who deserved to be kicked off of the show this week… for a change it was not even close. Joshua Gracin was not even close to the quality of any of the other singers on Tuesday night’s show.

Is it a surprise that the dark skinned black woman who stepped up huge in the last two weeks was voted off the show before the country boy? Had it been any surprise that Rickey Smith was voted off before the obviously inferior blondes, Kimberly and Carmen?

As I’ve written before, I am not a fan of rushing to race as an excuse for anything. But I have no other way of explaining this. Even Joshua Gracin held his head in his hands when he found out he wasn’t even in the bottom 2… He knows.

A lack of taste by America would not disgust me this much. I am used to that. But there is something really wrong here. Votes are counted for contestants, not against them. So it’s not like someone is saying, “We don’t want black people in the final four.” But in a season where black singers did seem dominant, it may be that Kimberly Locke is only still around because she straightened her hair. And that’s not right.

I still loved the moment on last night's show when Simon Cowell explained that we had to abide by the public's votes, because this was a democracy, after all . . . and the audience booed him for saying it.

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