Was there an American Idol producer conspiracy? American Idol has been reshaped, redone and revamped to fit a new generation of Idol lovers. Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey were brought on as judges after J.Lo, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson quit, bitched and/or left the panel due to new production ideas and methods. Randy is back, but in true reality television style, nothing is ever as it seems with the rest of the bunch.
During Tuesday’s American Idol auditions in Charlotte, North Carolina, Minaj and Carey exploded in an expletive filled feud of epic proportions. At one point, Minaj said to producers, “I told them, I’m not f****** putting up with your f******* highness over there. Figure it the f*** out!” The fight allegedly started over a contestant’s performance on which the new judge, Keith Urban, was stuck. Ryan Seacrest spoke out about the drama during his radio show and said, “It was heated, it did go too far, to the point where the producers said with just a few contestants left, ‘let’s call it a day’”. Did American Idol dip her little sparkly toes in smut television? Will this season be the Ricki Lake of reality television seasons? Nope. It seems the entire fight was a massive publicity stunt and producers are scrambling to cover up the rotten open wound of a mishap.
Firstly, how were they able to so “conveniently” film the debacle and have it at TMZ within minutes? We know entertainment sites are starved for juicy American Idol news, but it was just too finely tuned to have any credibility. Secondly, the American Idol producers have always been able to create pre-air hype with rumours of fighting judges, bitching contestants and outrageous Idol disasters. This was not the first time in Idol history that something ludicrous happened, nor was it the first time that an “alleged” feud took place. Does anyone remember the Ellen DeGeneres season and the pre-air hype surrounding her and the rest of the judging panel? Lastly, we strongly believe that the producers used the fight as a ploy to increase the extremely low Idol viewership figures.
Currently, the show might not survive past the next two seasons and producers are aware of this. They completely stripped down the Idol format and built it up again with an all-star judging panel, exactly like what they did with J.Lo and Steven Tyler, but this time around they went back to the drawing board and removed the irking judging panel niceties which plagued the show for the past two seasons. J.Lo, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson came across as rehearsed and contrived. They contradicted their own critique several times during the past two seasons and nudged the contestants into shoe-box alternatives. We all know American Idol is done and dusted. It has become a desperate and shallow version of its former self that is struggling to survive under the insane pressure of The Voice and X-Factor USA.
According to a latest TMZ report, Minaj is furious at the producers for using Carey against her. She believes the producers are plotting and forcing her to burst out in a fit of rage. Could it be true? Could the producers of American Idol be so very desperate that they’re turning the judges against one another? Allegedly, the producers were scrambling to restore peace on Tuesday and finally managed to have Minaj and Carey sit at the same table on Wednesday, but the tension was still as thick oil. Is Carey aware of the situation? If so, what does it say about her as an artist? If the producers are, in fact, plotting against Minaj, what does it say about the integrity of one of the most famous television brands in the world? What is really going on behind the scenes?
We’re disgusted, annoyed and bored with the new American Idol “scandals”. The show, which largely focused on creating superstars back in the day, has become reality television fodder with a penchant for the dramatic and theatrical. The producers might have just played their final trump card – the culling of a very faithful audience.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Do you think the feud is real? Do you think it was a controlled outburst? Is it the truth?
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