Another major source of controversy that has spanned multiple seasons has been the activities of contestants prior to competing on the show such as past recording contracts in contravention of the rules, and undisclosed criminal charges.
[3] One of the show's executive producers, Ken Warwick, later indicated that equipment was put in place afterwards to address this issue but it has not detected any such problem since its installation.
[5] There was much discussion in the communication industry about the phone system being overloaded, and that potentially more than 230 million calls were dropped just by AT&T and SBC (over 30% of the market), making the results statistically invalid.
[7] In an interview prior to the start of the fifth season, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed for the first time that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wild card week onward until the finale.
Four contestants in the wildcard round were eliminated by the judges before they had the chance to sing: Lisa Leuschner, Eric Yoder, Tiara Purifoy, and Marque Lynche.
At top seven, the three African American singers Fantasia Barrino, LaToya London, and Jennifer Hudson, dubbed the Three Divas, all unexpectedly landed at the bottom three.
Criticisms were also voiced about the voting system that resulted in survival of contestants such as John Stevens and Jasmine Trias over Jennifer Hudson and LaToya London, despite constant negative reviews from the judges on the former two.
[17] Howard Stern encouraged his listeners to vote for Sanjaya Malakar who had become a phenomenon in the sixth season,[18] and to take delight in possibly "ruining" Idol.
[21] In the top thirteen in the eighth season, the expected phone number for finalist Alexis Grace, IDOLS-13, was not owned by American Idol, but by a company called Intimate Encounters, who used it as a sex line.
[25] While speculations were rife over the reasons for Allen's win over Adam Lambert,[26][27] in a statement, Fox said that an independent monitor was employed to oversee the voting process to ensure the competition results were "fair, accurate and verified.
"[27] Michael Slezak of EW stated, "So you’d think by season 9 — during the inconsequential semifinals, no less — it would be easy to brush off the bad judgment of speed-texting tweens, to process the way-too-early exits of Lilly Scott, Katelyn Epperly, and Alex Lambert (plus the sort-of-maybe-too-early ouster of Todrick Hall), and move on.
So why do the ritual killings of the dreams of four indisputably flawed semifinalists feel like they’re part of something bigger, a shifting of the tectonic plates at the core of the Idol universe?
[33][34][35] The first five contestants eliminated from the finals in the tenth season were all female, which led some critics to believe that it was partly due to the demographic of the voters being skewed towards women who tended to vote for men.
Judge Jennifer Lopez revealed in an interview that she was outraged and disappointed with the result and believed that Malaya did not deserve to be eliminated from the show; then added that she wished she could've done something about it.
[45] American Idol eleventh season runner-up Jessica Sanchez stated on Twitter her anger and disappointment with Malaya's elimination.
His comeback was unpopular with many fans, with some claiming that the nineteenth season was rigged for him to win at the expense of favorites such as Grace Kinstler or Willie Spence, who had been part of the series from the beginning.
He treats pop acts as brands, to be exploited over different media, rather than human performers who make money selling records and playing concerts.
He is a genius — he makes everyone else look like complete amateurs.In his article, Olsen was critical of Fuller for the contract that his contestants must sign, where the finalists become essentially "forever and throughout the universe" properties of 19 Management.
[51] On July 29, 2009, Lyndsey Parker at Yahoo's "Reality Rocks" headlined "Ex-Idol Contestant Says Show Is Rigged," reported that Ju'Not Joyner charged that, "It's a fixed thing if I ever saw one," and that, after initial competitions, when winners reach a serious stage, a bad contract is offered, a "slavetract."
FOX executives apologized, and during the eighth season Top 2 performance show, host Ryan Seacrest warned viewers that the finale would run overtime.
It drew criticisms that the producers of American Idol were turning a somber occasion of national mourning into a "giant promotional opportunity".
"[111][112] For the seventh season Top 5 episode, originally aired April 29, 2008, the judging was modified in order to fit two songs per contestant into the show.
[123] A video was leaked to TMZ in October 2012 that showed Nicki Minaj erupting in a tirade against Mariah Carey during the audition in Charlotte, North Carolina for the twelfth season.
[citation needed] During his interview with AfterBuzz TV following the Top 5 elimination show, Caleb Johnson made offensive remarks about his fans who tweet him song suggestions.
[133] "For the record that juvenile comment I made in the interview was not directed towards my fans but to the wackos that send hundreds of hate messages a day to me!
When Alexander had left the stage, Connick Jr. said, "Quentin, if it's that whack, then you can always go home, because Idol is paying a lot of money to give you this experience and for you to say that to this hand that is feeding you right now, I think is highly disrespectful."
Alexander was then prompted by the producers to return to the stage where he approached the judges and clarified he meant the two being potentially eliminated was whack, not the show, or the experience.
[137] Judge Jennifer Lopez empathized with Alexander's emotions running high but said that as an artist he had to learn to work through that even when it happens to put on the performance.
[138]American Idol played up the exchange in a promotional spot aired on the same channel and confirmed they will replay the incident at the beginning of the Top 5 show as part of the recap of the previous week.
[139] An AI source also stated that for fairness purposes the judges and contestants have a strict wall of silence between them and only interact onstage so Connick Jr. and Alexander have not had contact since last week.