American Idol Not Ready For Gay Winner?
March 16, 2008 by Jeanne
Season after season, there’s controversy and rumors and this is no exception. We’ve seen sex scandals, voting irregularities, oddities like Sanjaya Malakar and all that and this year it’s all about having had a shot at fame before American Idol or, most recently, sexual orientation.
People have been on the show before and have been suspected or accused of being gay (Clay Aiken for example and, no, I’m not saying he is and I really don’t care) but nothing has been as “in your face” and Danny Noriega and the fact that David Hernandez had been a stripper at a club for me.
Ever since David got voted off last week, there’s been all this chatter about whether he and Danny were voted off because they were gay (not sure about David, though).
Knowing what you know now, do you think this played a role in their elimination? CNN seemed to think it affected votes. Watch the video:
Knowing whether a contestant is gay shouldn’t matter, I think, but I’m willing to hear your point of view. Do you think being openly gay or tied to stripping affects votes?
Even more important, if a contestant is gay or tattooed (like Carly Smithson – I’ve heard people complain about her “body art”) or whatever, should they keep it private?
Diversity is important, in my opinion, so while I respect the opinions of others, I also hope that Danny and David were not voted off overly sexual orientation. There are plenty of gay singers and entertainers in the world (some that we don’t even know about!).
image courtesy of FOX
I hope they weren’t voted off because of sexual orientation too. Here these two guys are being upfront and honest and then there are the contestants that say they’re not gay and nobody believes them. So what’s the answer. Either way it doesn’t send out such a great message for up and coming idols. Just goes to show, talent is not the main thing they’re being judged on, and that’s just wrong.
For me, personally, weather a contestant is tattooed, openly gay, in the closet, bi, straight, having orgies or humping trees doesn’t affect if I like them or not IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM. I might find it interesting in a matter of fact way, but it really doesn’t make me like them more or less. I really don’t care at all.
But unfortunately, I have to agree that being openly gay or having worked as a stripper in a gay club might have affected Danny’s and David’s votes. I think there is still, unfortunately, a lot of ignorance and bigotry (spelling?) in this world. This is a singing competition – why should it matter what the contestants did in the past, or who they bang at night? I just. Don’t. Get it.