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Montgomery Blair High School's Online Student Newspaper
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April 1, 2003

American Idol contestant found not very idol-esque

by Laurel Jefferson, Page Editor
The American Idol executives apparently have some trouble attracting the squeaky clean contestants they so desperately want. Just yesterday, finalist Corey Clark was unceremoniously kicked off the reality television program for having concealed his dubious record: assault charges for allegedly attacking his 15-year-old sister. And Clark is the second contestant removed, and the third to come under suspicion, this year alone.

Clark actually had a court date the very same night that he was expected to perform live in front of a hyped-up studio audience. Well, that audience will have one less fresh young face to judge in tonight’s competition, as FOX has made it very clear that Clark will not be welcomed back into the spotless, supposedly wholesome competition. Assault charges just don’t quite fit the mold.

And neither does a past of Internet pornography, the reason why network executives canned Hollywood-bound contestant Frenchie Davis, although she broke no actual laws. Contestant Trenyce also came under scrutiny for a felony theft charge later expunged from her record, but executives decided that that charge was okay, using the same unknown and much-questioned criteria as for Clark and Davis.

But I thought it was cool to be a "gangsta" in pop today (50 cent)? And how about posing without much clothes... is it just my imagination or does Britney Spears's "I'm A Slave 4 U" fall directly into that category? Oh, right, I forgot, American Idol is simply playing into the giant hypocrisy that is the music industry.

Discuss this Article

  • The Band Guy (View Email) on April 16, 2003
    They should change the name to America's Most Wanted.
  • Senior on April 25, 2003
    Frenchie's big butt could sing!!
  • . on April 25, 2003
    "much clothes"?????
  • Tennille on May 17, 2003
    You want my comment?, I'll give you my comment. I understand completely that American Idol wants the good old fashioned type person who has a squeaky clean record to represent them however, people do make mistakes and should not be nailed to the wall for making them. American Idol is supposed to represent your singing capabilities not your background history, I can however, see where the shows producers would feel much better having someone win with a perfect background record, after all if the winner turned out to be an ax murderer, everyone would go around associating American Idol with a Capital one Felony. However, Trenyce who was a contestant on the show was allowed to remain in the running, later to find out she had previously had a run-in with the law regarding a bad check situation. I think that American Idol has gone too far trying to dig into people's past. Obviously Trencye felt enough urgency to try and have her record removed from public viewing. That is what an expungement is. So I guess my question is, how did the show find out that Trenyce had been convicted of felony theft, if her criminal history had been expunged. Someone had to pull several strings in order to find out this information. Criminal history IS most certainly a matter of public record and any John Doe can request to see a persons criminal history, but if you have your criminal history expunged, that is the whole purpose of an expungement, to remove the record from public viewing. This tells me that the show must be doing everything imaginable to drudge up "dirt" on the contestants. Do the rules of the show clearly state, "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?". It is my understanding that Trenyce was not booted from the show for this reason, however, her past should never have been revealed.
  • Meg Levine on May 28, 2003
    this is a wonderful article. American Idol is fun to laugh at.
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