<![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers - Idolator Comments]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/idolator.com.png <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers - Idolator Comments]]> http://idolator.com Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:37:27 EDT Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:37:27 EDT http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4912194 @Charles A. Hohman:

Re. Country is hot, R&B is not:

This is why Chikezie may want to continue in that bluegrassy vein we saw last week and the week before.

Manola

]]> 33:372709:c4912194 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:37:27 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4912179 @Charles A. Hohman:

Lest we forget that three out of the six winners of AI happen to be black.

Manola

]]> 33:372709:c4912179 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:32:20 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4912173 Is Simon afraid of deportation? Because his kudos to Kristy came out of left field for me

Manola

]]> 33:372709:c4912173 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:30:32 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4902904 @Jim Thome's Self-Cleaning Oven: Alternate with "Do I Make You Proud?" for maximum effect.

creamsissle

]]> 33:372709:c4902904 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:13:25 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4902627 @Charles A. Hohman: It sounds like you think that the music buying public is racist and that Idol is just reflecting that. That's fine... I don't think it's true, but it's a reasonable argument.

But your point about Idol and hip-hop is right on.

Hamm Beerger

]]> 33:372709:c4902627 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:04:28 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4902553 @ReverendDrGladhands: Dude, Ramiele was heinous this week. She only made it because of the sympathy vote.

Re: black losers having less that Pickler careers. It's a genre, not a race, thing. Country sells really well right now, but the R&B market seems to be a bit fickle.

Hamm Beerger

]]> 33:372709:c4902553 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:02:05 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4902412 @Jim Thome's Self-Cleaning Oven: Three of seven winners, yes. But when compared to the multimillions sold by Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Daughtry, Fantasia, Ruben and Jordin have failed to sell impressively outside the "urban" base. With the franchise flagging in ratings and sales, this likely motivated the stunning lack of diversity in the Top 24 (which is decided by the producers, not America). They've virtually given up on finding/marketing a "new" Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey who could appeal to a multi-racial, multi-genre audience. (And of course, music industry factors in the last decade play a heavier role in this failure than "Idol" itself. As does "Idol"'s moralistic embargo against fully embracing hip-hop.)

@Audif Jackson Winters III: This is accurate, but he still seemed very squeamish about his song selection. I believe he was following his heart as much as I believe Archuleta's parents played no role in his song selection.

Charles A. Hohman

]]> 33:372709:c4902412 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:57:52 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4900957 @Charles A. Hohman: I don't think it's racism, I think it's the fact that Chikeze and Mercado aren't all that great so they are going to be in and out of trouble barring a "great" night. While it was weird seeing both Mercado and Chikeze in the bottom two, Cook probably saved herself with that warhorse, Ramiele had the "under the weather" excuse so the bottom two was left open to perhaps less worthy contestants.

jasonelias

]]> 33:372709:c4900957 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:14:15 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4897588 Of course there's a huge racial component in Idol voting. It's called AMERICAN Idol. It even spills over into the post-idol careers of non-winning contestants. There hasn't been a black Idol loser who's had the recording career of even Kellie Pickler or William Hung. That said, who cares? I surely don't miss having Melinda Doolittle or Tamyra Gray in my life, and in a week's time, I won't miss Chikeze. He made the top ten, he'll go on tour and make some money.

on Ramiele: Admittedly, I'm so gay for her that MrsHands won't watch the show with me anymore, but I thought this weeks performance was one of the five best this week. She made it through previous eliminations on cuteness, but she earned her keep this time.

ReverendDrGladhands

]]> 33:372709:c4897588 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:18:30 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4896658 @Jim Thome's Self-Cleaning Oven: Unfortunately, I had forgotten about that song - until last night. I didn't see it coming, and didn't have a chance to put fingers in my ears quickly enough.

Ever had two earworms at once? Welcome to my nightmare...

Thierry

]]> 33:372709:c4896658 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:39:21 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4896094 @Thierry: Repeated doses of "This Is My Now." Sorry, the cure is possibly worse than the disease.

Hamm Beerger

]]> 33:372709:c4896094 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:14:49 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4895854 @janine: Don't get me wrong. I love me my American Idol. But I accept it for what it is...mindless fun that we all forget about months later. However, people getting their knickers in a knot over supposed racial conspiracies piss me off. It's a reality show people...enjoy it for what it is.

dsven

]]> 33:372709:c4895854 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:02:22 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4895287 @dsven: I don't have a horse in this race, but it's been a long time since I've seen the, "if you want to be worried about something, be worried about X" argument. So huzzah to you, sir or madam.

janine

]]> 33:372709:c4895287 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:31:50 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4895021 @Charles A. Hohman: "Chikezie admitted last night that his arm was twisted into singing another ballad, which makes me suspect a racially motivated ruse to oust him, given the begrudging tokenism of his Top 24 placement."

No, he actually said he was following the advice of the AI vocal coach, Debra Byrd, to "follow his heart", and he decided on a ballad himself.

[www.americanidol.com]

Audif Jackson Winters III

]]> 33:372709:c4895021 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:09:49 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4894981 @f1sh3r: that's actually her nickname on vote for the worst, in part because she's been photographed multiple times in the same shot as a confederate flag.

Maura Johnston

]]> 33:372709:c4894981 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:04:53 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4894906 Also, if anyone has a trick for getting "You're the Voice" out of my head, I would really appreciate it...

Thierry

]]> 33:372709:c4894906 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:56:15 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4894722 @Charles A. Hohman: Charles, stop looking for a a conspiracy that just ain't there. Like Jim said, 50% of the winners in 6 seasons have been non-white.

Anyway, we all know that Chikeze had no hope of winning the whole thing. Whether he was booted 10th or 7th, does it REALLY matter? We all know that Syesha, Kristy Lee, and Ramiele are the next 3 boots, it's just the matter of order.

If you really want to get indignant about an issue, try focussing on something less trivial than supposed racial conspiracies on a reality tv/fluff show. How about Tibet instead?

dsven

]]> 33:372709:c4894722 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:31:00 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4894360 Called it.

Chris Molanphy

]]> 33:372709:c4894360 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:59:11 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4893509 @shpanky: wow did you really say kkkristy? i mean...really? talk about racist.

f1sh3r

]]> 33:372709:c4893509 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:52:41 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4893454 @shpanky: Also, re: Blondes: Carrie Underwood is the only blonde winner.

Oh, I forgot, is Jordin Sparks not quite white? If so, that would make 3 of 7.

Hamm Beerger

]]> 33:372709:c4893454 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:41:43 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4893445 Uh, racist? LaToya and Jennifer both lost to Fantasia... another black woman. So yeah, 7 years of American Idol and two black winners... look up the percentage of Americans that are black and do the math.

Hamm Beerger

]]> 33:372709:c4893445 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:40:17 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4892670 Oh American Idol has always been racist year after year. Anyone remember LaToya London, one of the best vocalists they ever had?? Or how about ACADEMY AWARD WINNER Jennifer Hudson that year alone?

I'm a white male myself and it just pisses me off to no end that this show consistently caters to the blond haired blue-eyed trailer trash like KKKristy Cooke. How many vacant, wooden blondes (re: Carrie Underwood) really need to win this competition? :-(

shpanky

]]> 33:372709:c4892670 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:06:17 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4891974 totes! yeah, have it. like it lots, but not as magical and perfect as 'in bocca al lupo.'

metalkate

]]> 33:372709:c4891974 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:02:40 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4891971 For a while, I thought Ramiele would complete the bottom three, thereby conspicuously leaving seven very white faces guaranteed safety.

Chikezie admitted last night that his arm was twisted into singing another ballad, which makes me suspect a racially motivated ruse to oust him, given the begrudging tokenism of his Top 24 placement. As for the other surviving African American who just happened to be in the Bottom Two, she gave a season highlight performance.

Whatever "Idol"'s troubling race politics, which have been blatantly obvious and widely ignored this season, I suspect there may also have been spillover from the Wright/Obama media firestorm. Don't forget Sanjaya was voted off the week of the Virginia Tech slayings, when the show had a somber tone, and media outlets were delivering anti-outcast, anti-Asian paranoia. So current events can sometimes influence "Idol" voting, as much as performances, personality and producer preferences.

Charles A. Hohman

]]> 33:372709:c4891971 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:02:29 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4891915 murder by death is awesome! did you get the new album yet? it's called "red in tooth and claw"

tubby

]]> 33:372709:c4891915 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:58:06 EDT <![CDATA["American Idol" Sends Chikezie To The Showers]]> http://idolator.com/372709/american-idol-sends-chikezie-to-the-showers#c4891761 caught the end of the show and then caught up on last night with some youtube highlights. thanks youtube! anyway, yeah, jason castro - shock, indeed! i thought his 'fragile' sounded very nice, and i'm convinced the judges keep pointing to his revelatory?? 'hallelujah' as the gold standard just because of the strength of the song itself and thanks jason for reminding us! cause that performance, on second listen, really wasn't that hot. but he's grown on me since. cute kid. hope he can hang a while longer, and hope that jonbenet archuleta kid doesn't win. blech. but frankly, i don't really care. i really like that murder by death band. and elliot smith. i used to listen to a lot of metal.

metalkate

]]> 33:372709:c4891761 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:47:20 EDT