by Johnny Punish
Is American Idol Racist? Did we just witness our electorate again default to tribalism?
On Sunday’s Disney-themed episode of American Idol, three contestants were sent home after a live vote. Each of the finalists sang one song from a Disney animated classic. In a first for the franchise, the show aired live nationwide. America got to vote for their favorites in real-time, with the results revealed by host Ryan Seacrest at the end of the episode.
The American Idol top 7 seven vote-getters — Gabby Barrett, Cade Foehner, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Maddie Poppe, Jurnee Siani, Catie Turner and Michael J. Woodard — moved on while the bottom three were eliminated from the competition.
That meant Dennis Lorenzo, Michelle Sussett and Ada Vox were sent packing. Many people were quick to point out that all three contestants eliminated were people of color. Lorenzo is African-American, Sussett is a refugee from Venezuela, and Vox, who is also drag queen, is Fillipino.
In my house, to me, it was painfully obvious what was going on. Last week, the judges had to save the People of Color (POC) to get them on this Top 10 show because America voted them out last week. My guests were all hoping it was just a weird quirk and America would get it right. I was hoping with them. But alas Idol gave America the keys and they did it again like clockwork. Same exact thing! Predictable!
For me, I was hoping Vegas had a line on the vote cause I would have cashed in big time. I literally called it out right from the beginning whilst my guests where still hoping America would NOT go full Trump again! I appreciate the hope. I admire it. But I would NEVER bet on it.
I mean not only were the bottom three all people of color, Jurnee Siani, who is African-American and married to a woman, was with them in the bottom four. She moved on to the next round in the competition, but that means that all the white, straight people weren’t even close from being eliminated this week.
Rye tweeted, “The lesbian, the drag queen, the border crosser, the black man. THE BOTTOM 4 EVERYBODY! Only in trump’s America! #AmericanIdol.”
Theeightyfives added, “Seems like the same people voting on #AmericanIdol were the same ones who voted for the President. This show just got racist as shit.”
Many people were extremely saddened by the exit of Ada Vox, who was considered to be one of the most talented and most diverse competitors on this season of American Idol. Christopher Thornton wrote, “Once again, just like Election Night 2016, America got the votes wrong. Ada was robbed. #AmericanIdol”
Tonight we saw some amazing and strong performers go home. Whiteness was picked over talent. This is a reminder that POC and queer visibility are the least of what American Idol viewers want. Obviously, there’s still more work that has to be done.
in case y’all forgot how racist, homophobic, & bigoted our country is, here are some tweets from american idol’s voting base. this show continues to be dictated by close-minded hicks. this isn’t american idol… it’s white, middle american idol. #AmericanIdol pic.twitter.com/sJE6vOrseV
— Dylan (@scholaurship) April 30, 2018
So the bottom four in Idol were the drag queen, the Latina immigrant, the black man, and the lesbian. Yeah, I’m done watching. @AdaVox has more talent than everyone else in the room combined. #AmericanIdol
— Ian / יחיאל (@itblumenfeld) April 30, 2018
Am I watching the same show as everyone else?? Jurnee has one of the best voices there hands down & I guarantee if her voice came out of Gabby Barrett she’d be regarded as the best; America’s racism & homophobia is really showing #AmericanIdol
— sal 🏳️🌈 (@RealLifeFlop) April 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/GotABadBaby/status/990785626151600129
So is American Idol Racist?
Oh Hell NO!
Idol is a super great show giving young people a shot. They really tried to their best to make it fair and open for everyone and it was. America Idol gets a super A+ and deserves full respect!
However, in Trump’s “Frightened of Losing our Culture” America, good people who live in fear of predators that do NOT exist have NO PATH to exercise their very best self. Sadly, they are forced into tribal boxes by politicians and profiteers who exploit without consequence. It’s retarding our country. This regressing has gotta stop folks!
It really upsets me because this terrible exploitation of all of us outlines the very sad vision-less walls that exist between “us” and “them”. We can do so much better. We must!
So I call on you and everyone reading this post to consistently reject walls at every turn in every place. Let’s not default to narrowed minded vision less “color” politics because we’re afraid of predators that do NOT exist.
Yes, culture will evolve as it always does. That’s normal folks! It’s nothing to fear! Yes we lose things but we gain even more. So drop the fear! Embrace the future! Let’s rise above and truly reach our potential by reaching out across lines, building bridges and connecting our world to all our brothers and sisters.
We have a long way to go to make America and American Idol Great Again!
The USA is profoundly racist (the proof is found in the prison population, not showbiz accolades) – and that includes everyone, including the bleeding-hearts. Hoping that the racism won’t peek through into the corporate-managed pop culture paint-job is a hope that reality might be deniable.
It’s going to take more than sprinkles of corporate managed mass media showbiz glitter to change the profoundly oppressive mindset of the people (that includes the faux-liberals and faux-egalitarians) of the USA.
Racism is probably best defined as a cocktail of in-group preference, familiarity bias, and a sense of aesthetics and empathy which is naturally culturally/ethnically/racially embedded and therefore, with all these and other aspects, many of which are demonstrably hardwired neurologically, should seem far less of a pejorative term than it seems here, as almost everywhere, to be. This doesn’t even seem to deserve an “ism” label, as it is simply the way people are. Let me offer an example.
I watch Person of Interest, which seems quite inclusive, as there are actual or imagination-friendly representations of many types of human being and relationship across the whole spectrum of controversy. I was not interested in the homosexual displays, and was relieved that the writers didn’t overdo that angle. And it seemed as if transexuals have gotten way over-represented in appearances, or at least I can’t escape that impression in certain cases. For the sake of the appreciation of the series I have to dial back my distaste for those elements (they aren’t “sexy” to me), and thereby preserve my focus on character arcs, plot holes, stylistic references, and yes, social programming agendas, most times pertaining to matters of far greater import than men trying to be or identifying as women. That doesn’t register to me as something that society or any of its so-called social justice activists have any meaningful place in assessing or judging, except of course in their own minds.
So if aesthetics and charm are a factor, and I have a range of preferences for how I like to see that displayed, and I act according to those preferences, then that’s nature taking her proper course. If talent and merit are being judged, and these seem perhaps comparable (as they should by the final stages of a competition), and I still prefer one contestant to another, that also seems to make sense, even if the contestants are all (insert priviledged group here).
But if I get the sense that I’m expected to skew my own judgment because SJ Mandarins are watching, then I’ll just probably prefer to dismiss the “alternative” offerings in favor of both snubbing the SJ agenda and maintaining my natural integrity. To hell with the SJ agenda and its associated MK programs and movements.
Are whites the only ones who own TV’s? Maybe the 3 didn’t qualify. Maybe many don’t want to support “drag queen” culture. Not everyone applauded Roseanne trotting out a cross dressing 10 year old to canned applause in her sad effort to be relevant.
Johnny,Punish yourself. Get in touch with reality. .0001% are tranny yet 2% is shoveling this crap to your kids. My guess is the majority who watch this moronic show are not white and, have a telephone to vote with. I suggest the audience is a fair representation of the country and, it’s views.
What are you really saying? If someone is gay, black, Asian, anything but white, they must be promoted over any white person regardless of talent? What happened to “don’t judge a book by its’ cover”?
I think you spun a bearing and, you’re leaking oil. Go stand in the corner, you’re on time out, you silly boy.