American Idol may have a new problem on their hands. It seems that David Hernandez, the attractive young man who last week claimed that his Papa was a Rolling Stone, was rolling just a little himself in his not-too-distant past.
Sorry ladies, but it seems that David worked for three years as a male stripper at a club catering primarily to gay men.
Check out the news story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_on_en_tv/idol_stripper_2
While the revelation that he may be gay should not be a factor in whether he is qualified to compete, the fact that he worked in the sex industry should be. In 2003 Idol hopeful Frenchie Davis - one of the best singers in that year's competition - was removed from the competition after it was revealed that she had appeared on an adult web site. Performing in a live, nude show - up close and personal with the paying customers - is an even more egregious violation of the Idol trust.
And lest people start their next sentence with, "but Antonella...," remember that Antonella Barba had someone post private pictures of her. She did not authorize their release, nor did she ever get paid for those pictures. By extrapolation, it was not the morality of posing for racy pictures that was the problem for Frenchie - it was the selling of those images.
The bottom line is this - David Hernandez is a good singer. But he should not be considered an American Idol.
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11 comments:
It will be interesting how they handle this. Back when Frenchie did it, I think they were worried about the negative press. Today, they don't have to worry because they run things. They don't have to cater to advertisers.
I think there might be a difference too in that unless there are pictures of him floating on the internet that he was paid for, they can claim that it's not the same.
GG
I think I'm with GG on this one
It wouldn't surprise me to see him be asked to leave the show, but then, I don't think it would surprise me to see Simon & Co. play up this news either.
I'm not sure that a little bit of controversy like this, especially if there's no photo evidence to go along with it, will hurt them at all with advertisers anymore.
So, in typical Paula fashion - what he said, only in more words and somewhat more confusing.
I hear where you're both coming from, but I disagree. I personally find the idea of him doin' the nekkid nasty dance in a gay club more off-putting than the idea of Frenchie posing in her underwear. Perhaps it's just my own dirty mind, but the mental pictures conjured by this news are far more disturbing than the actual pictures of Frenchie-the-voluptuous in her skivvies.
Also, if they handle this differently than they did with Frenchie, there will certainly be loud cries of both racism and sexism. I'm not sure that's negative press that they will want to deal with.
But who cares if it's off putting? I don't think that's the point. The point was, in 2002 or whenever it was, Frenchie could be seen on the Internet naked. At any time in the year, if she was on the show, that was going to follow her. This isn't the same deal. At least not from my perspective.
See, I think of they handle this like they did with Frenchie, the cries will be from a different, louder, and more harsh community when it comes to biases. I don't see the racism aspect of it unless they decide to kick him off.
The fact is it may not even be an issue. Depending on what happens with the vote this week he might not even make the top twelve. I guess it remains to be seen whether more of the voting public shares your opinion or mine.
Apparently the charges of racism have already begun...
The Daily Voice
Last time I looked, Hernandez was Mexican, so I'm not sure how you can claim racism. The big picture is that Frenchie was going to possibly turn away fans and advertisers because the show wasn't American fabric like it is now. Now, they call the shots. In season one, if it came out that Kelly Clarkson posed nude online, she would've been hosed too.
I didn't mean YOU as Amy claiming racism. I meant the media.
Racism/sexism because the black female was booted and the not-black male was not.
You're absolutely correct that AI is it's own institution in a way that it wasn't 5 years ago. From that perspective I agree that it's less of an issue than it was with Frenchie.
But if you don't boot David, the black community will cry racism (against Frenchie) whether it's actually there or not. If you do boot him, the hispanic community will cry foul. If you don't dismiss him, you risk the chance of seriously offending the conservative part of your audience that wants the show to stay family friendly. If you let him go, the gay members of your audience will claim homophobia is the reason.
This looks like a lose-lose situation to me. The best they can hope for is that he loses this week before it goes to the top 12 so they can just say 'we let the people decide'.
I don't think there will be a big issue if he's not booted. It was 5 years ago, and while there may initially be some cries, it won't be a big deal.
The conservatives are going to cry whenever anything "non-family friendly" happens. I don't think you can blame Idol for a young man's past, or possible sexual orientation.
I guess we'll know for sure soon enough...
Follow -up news story.
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