Well not only does American Idol provide us with some fine entertainment as we watch wanna-be’s become sombody’s but it is also full of scandal. We all watched as David Hernandez made headlines a week ago when it came out that before the show, he worked as a stripper at a male strip club. Now it appears another contenstant needs to be worried about being shown in the buff. Ninja Dude reports,
“Alas, a nude photo scandal hits the female talent on American Idol, naming Amanda Overmyer as the first victim in this 2008 season. Apparently, Ms. Piggy has a friend in Indiana shopping the pics around to various magazines. The National Enquirer claims “if the source leaks these photos, another AI scandal will erupt.”
Overmyer is a nurse by day and rocker chic by night and seems to enjoy taking her clothes off sometime in between. Not only does she enjoy getting naked, she also likes to drink and drive. She was arrested in 2006 for DUI.
I recently happened upon a story from The Evil Beet, that I completely agree with, at least in the capacity that something is a little fishy. Apparently, David Hernandez, a contestant on American Idol has a pretty wild past; he used to be a male stripper for gay night clubs; –totally nude, none of those delicately arranged feather boas, or strategically placed scarves. The corporate office, and producers are completely aware of this. But the actions of American Idol in a similar situation in the past towards a female contestant named Frenchie Davis, kicked off the show for modeling nude in 2003, conflict with their legitimacy. From The Evil Beet:
“Frenchie, if you’ll recall, was the fan favorite booted from American Idol in 2003 after producers learned she’d posed for topless photos on a racy website. At the time, Frenchie was all like, “Dude, I was doing it to pay for college,” but the producers at Fox were all like, “We don’t care. You’re out.”
I interviewed Frenchie on camera at an event in Hollywood about six months ago. Before the interview began, her publicist pulled me aside and was like, “Whatever you do, do not ask her about American Idol. Don’t even say the words. She doesn’t want to talk about it.” So obviously it’s still a sore subject….
So why is David’s stripper past a non-issue, while Frenchie’s topless photos were cause for expulsion?
When the nude photos of Antonella Barba surfaced last season, this same issue came up. But I get the difference. Antonella took those pictures privately and they leaked, whereas Frenchie’s pictures were taken for pay and public consumption. But I don’t get the difference here. Both David and Frenchie got naked for pay. Professionally. And legally, I might add.
Why is David’s past somehow more palatable for the producers? Is it more acceptable for men to take their clothes off for money? I demand an explanation.”
Actually, I don’t think the issue is with whether naked men or women are more appropriate. I think it comes down to someone in the producers’ office being worried about someone else pulling a discrimination card. Not only is David homosexual, but he’s also black. So while the producers of American Idol have managed not to look like racists or gay bashers, instead, they’ve turned into hypocritical sexists. And in my book, condescending to an orientation, or a race, might as well be the same as having prejudices against them, because it is still not seeing the other party as equal.
American Idol is a way for unknowns to become household names. Each one of those contestants is getting more than their fifteen minutes of fame and generally, the more attention they receive the better. But what about if you’re a male contestant that was a stripper up until last September? And you stripped for men!?!
Well if you’re not sure how they would feel about it, you can ask David Hernandez who took his clothes off at Dick’s Cabaret while other men would hoot and holler. And he even went a little further than that. From The Popcrunch Show,
“David was a big money maker at Dick’s (pun intended), where he appeared fully nude and performed lap dances for a “mostly male” clientele, club manager Gordy Bryan told the Associated Press late Monday.”
How will this affect David’s idol status? Well I suppose if Paula can sleep with contestants, taking your clothes off before the show even started is really not such a big deal.
