American Idol Accused of Racism by 9 Black Ex-Contestants (UPDATED)

By On 01/25/2013 · 65 Comments · In American Idol

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Nine black former American Idol contestants are banding together to sue the show, claiming they were forced off the show as part of a racist plot

Jeez, look at the list of A-1 class whiners on this list! I’d have to go back to my archives, but the contestants on this list who were disqualified had lied to producers.  Actually, I’ll be back with some links.  But in the meantime, here is the full report from TMZ.

Nine black former “American Idol” contestants — from various seasons — are banding together to SUE the show … claiming they were all FORCED off “Idol” as part of a racist (and illegal) plot to boost ratings.

TMZ has obtained a letter, submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by NY attorney James H. Freeman — in which he asks for permission to sue Idol and FOX on behalf of his clients … who have all appeared on the show:

Corey Clark (Season 2), Jaered Andrews (Season 2), Donnie Williams (Season 3), Terrell Brittenum (Season 5), Derrell Brittenum (Season 5), Thomas Daniels (Season 6), Akron Watson (Season 6), Ju’Not Joyner (Season 8) and Chris Golightly (Season 9).

In his letter, Freeman claims he noticed something fishy about “Idol” when Jermaine Jones was kicked off on March 15, 2012. Producers had claimed Jones failed to inform them about multiple outstanding warrants out for his arrest.

Freeman claims he conducted an investigation into the show — and found that producers had only publicly disqualified 9 other people from the show since it first hit the air … and they all happened to be black.

Freeman now alleges that “Idol” has been conducting a “cruel and inhumane” scheme to exploit and humiliate black contestants for ratings.

According to the letter, Freeman believes the annual “scheme” begins during the background check stage of the show — when producers ask wannabe contestants the question — “Have you ever been arrested?”

Freeman claims the question is a violation of CA employment law … and since his clients were essentially applying for “employment” with Idol, the show was FORBIDDEN from asking contestants about their arrest history.

But Freeman claims … the ill-gotten information from the question, coupled with arrest records obtained by private investigators working for Idol, were used to humiliate the black Idol contestants on national TV … and in the process, perpetuated “destructive stereotypes” about black people.

Freeman also claims the show made his clients appear to be “violent criminals, liars and sexual deviants” … when they weren’t.

What’s more … Freeman claims the show has “NEVER once publicly disqualified a white or non-black American Idol contestant in the history of the eleven season production.”

According to Freeman, NONE of the contestants who were disqualified from the show based on their criminal backgrounds were convicted of the crimes for which they were charged at the time of their disqualification.

But Freeman adds, “Yet their personal and professional lives remain permanently and severely impaired by [the show's] continuing violations of our nation’s laws.”

Freeman’s letter is the first step towards a lawsuit — and we’re told as soon as he gets the green light from the EEOC, he plans to file the docs in court.

We spoke to “Idol” honcho Nigel Lythgoe … who tells us he was “shocked” by the “ridiculous” allegations.

He explained, “We treat everybody the same … no matter the race, religion or sex.”

“I think we’ve always had a fantastic share of talent from contestants both black and white … I don’t think I’ve ever seen racism at the show.”

A rep for FOX declined to comment.

FYI — “Idol” has had 3 African American winners in its history — Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino and Jordin Sparks.

Well, we all know Corey Clark’s pathetic story. I guess that lawsuit against MTV went no where. Now he’s trying a different tact to extract money out of his decade-old Idol experience.

Chris Golightly was eliminated from the Top 24 in Season 9 because he was still under a recording contract when he auditioned for Idol–which is against the show’s rules.

Donnie Williams was arrested for a DUI a week before he was scheduled to perform as part of the Season 3 Top 36. George Huff, who went on to sing his way to 5th place in the finals, took his place. By the way, after Donnie cleared up his legal problems, the producers invited him to participate in Season 4′s Hollywood Week. He was eliminated before the live shows.

The Brittenum twins were disqualified after Terrell ended up in jail. Both had outstanding warrants out for their arrest at the time they were arrested. Very similar to Jermaine Jones, who was disqualified last year. Like Donnie, the twins were invited back to Hollywood in a subsequent season after clearing up their legal problems.

Akron Watson was disqualified before the Hollywood Round due to a marijuana arrest. Akron claims producers told him to tell people he was an alternate to protect himself and the show. By the way, there are ALWAYS golden tickets holders who are told “never mind” after producers conduct background checks after auditions.

Jaered Andrews was arrested for assault after he punched a guy in a bar fight. He was celebrating his selection as an American Idol semi-finalist. The man he assaulted subsequently died from his injuries. Jaered was later acquitted. For the record, he did disclose his legal troubles to producers, but they decided to disqualify him after he was charged with assault.

Thomas Danielsarrested for DUI. His record was eventually wiped clean after he complied with his sentence. He was not disqualified, but the question is—did producers leak his record to TMZ to create controversy? But does it matter? There have been plenty of white Idol contestants whose legal troubles have been splashed all over TMZ.

Ju’Not Joyner was not disqualified. He’s just a super sore loser.

Idol will be in trouble if the lawyer can dig up some white contestants who had some of the same issues, but were not disqualified.  We’ll see how this situation pans out.  Joanna Pacitti, a white contestant, was disqualified during season 8 for ties she had to 19 executives. SHE’S more in a position to sue than any of these losers. I have always felt she was treated unfairly.

 

 
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  • durbesque

    Scotty’s Latin quarter is in a place that doesn’t show in public.

    Archie’s Latin half is gloriously on display at all times.

  • Goodvibes27

    I remember watching the Lifetime movie about Fantasia (The one she starred in) and there was an odd scene where during the Idol competition, she was paid a visit by the Idol producers (strongly) suggesting she drop out of the competition. If this was true and really happened, that would to me be a racist move. Any of these other clowns don’t have a leg to stand on IMO.

  • chloe18

    I’m not saying this lawsuit has merit but I don’t think it’s unfair to question why we only hear of men and women of color being disqualified from the show with one exception.  Honestly while reading through this all I was thinking was they have a point.  Everyone I remember being kicked off was someone of color (Frenchie, Cory, the twins, the guy who they aired getting kicked off recently.  Also Scott Savol who is white committed the same crime Cory did, abusing a woman and he was allowed to participate on the show.  According to wiki he told idol about it but at the end of the day it’s still the same crime.  

  • chloe18

    Arrested for or accused of does not necessarily equal committed.  My eyes got opened wide last year when members of the NYPD admitted to planting drugs on people to meet arrest quotas.  This is especially problematic when you couple it with stop and frisk where they can essentially search anyone who looks ~suspicious.  http://gothamist.com/2011/10/13/nypd_narcotics_detective_testifies.php

  • Latin2

    1. Corey Clark is HALF Black, just like Justian Gaurani who btw came in 2nd place on the 1st Idol

    2. The show doesn’t pick the winners of the show, the public does. So it is not the show that is racist, it is just that the viewers pick who they want.

    3. Latinos make up the LARGEST minority group in the US and we are not complaining or suing. There has never been a Latino Idol winner…well if you count Scotty being 1/4 Puerto Rican. ;)

  • Latin2

    1. Corey Clark is HALF Black, just like Justian Gaurani who btw came in 2nd place on the 1st Idol

    2. The show doesn’t pick the winners of the show, the public does. So it is not the show that is racist, it is just that the viewers pick who they want.

    3. Latinos make up the LARGEST minority group in the US and we are not complaining or suing. There has never been a Latino Idol winner…well if you count Scotty being 1/4 Puerto Rican. ;)

  • Abner4President

    Idol denied that ever happening and, IIRC, no such thing was ever described in Fantasia’s book.

  • Abner4President

    Well, besides the fact that you seem to want to ignore that the lack of honesty was indeed part of the issue (and a valid one, IMO), Corey had a pending court date while Scott did not.

    I agree Frenchie has a valid complaint about her disqualification, but considering the only other front-runner that season, according to the show, up to the point of her disqualification was Ruben Studdard, I don’t think their mishandling of the situation had anything to do with her race and she’s not a part of this suit anyway.

  • Abner4President

    But the only ones whose disqualifications have been made a point of on the show are those who advanced far enough for it to require an on-air explanation (the semifinals or later), and even then they *usually* gloss over the issue as quickly as possible, especially if the decision to disqualify occurs during that inactive period between the Hollywood rounds and the semifinals. They’ve only “confronted” people who are around to *be* confronted on camera, i.e., at the studio prepping for a live/live-to-tape round, and so far in the show’s history, the only people to have fallen into that category happened to be black. Unless you or someone else can provide an example of a non-black contestant being disqualified at the same point of the competition, I don’t see how you can argue that it’s more than an unfortunate coincidence.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Li-Wright/100001622678180 Li Wright

    I suspect we will soon see a lot of talk show appearances and maybe those guys will sing on the talk shows….betcha!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1759402889 Natalie Blake

    Gee, how did I know before reading this that Corey and the Brittenum twins would be on the suing list. Losers, all.

  • Miz

    This lawyer is an ambulance chaser and his over the top wording of this petition to file (‘racist plot’??? ‘cruel and inhumane scheme’???) is completely frivolous.

    The only thing possibly of merit in his petition to the EEOC is the ‘Have you ever been arrested?’ question on the paperwork to compete on the show. They can ask ‘Have you ever been convicted of a crime?’ That is ONLY if it is first ruled that applying to participate in a talent show is indeed applying for a job. However, that question is asked of ALL contestants regardless of race. It doesn’t pass the stink test.

     If he were filing a class action lawsuit based on that question, he’d have millions of parties to it IF THIS IS A JOB APPLICATION. Of course that would diminish the amount of any settlement awarded.

    There is a flipside to this. An employer can be found liable for ‘negligent hiring’ if they failed to do a background check if there is subsequent harm done by that employee. An employer has to practice due diligence in checking criminal records. 

    American Idol would be in for a world of hurt if they allowed a person with a known history of violence, sexual predators, or pedophiles on the show and something bad happened.

    Serious question: Has any person who has appeared on American Idol filed for and received Unemployment Insurance benefits after their time on the show or tour?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/KUERDPR4UGX4SGQBAWPNCBP6UY Ria

    “Idol will be in trouble if the lawyer can dig up some white contestants who had some of the same issues, but were not disqualified.  ”
    They need some examples of others with similar or worse issues and who were treated different.  How they treated Jermaine Jones was terrible.  But maybe they overplayed that because they were already at the voting rounds and fans would have been itate if he just left the show with no explanation.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/3RUBQK2O57PMWG3T2GA2LLOK3Y N

    I’m would think the contestants are not considered employees.  At least not before the live shows and tour.  They are definitely working for Idol during the tour and are getting paid for their work at that point.  Maybe the kids on tour get unemployment after the tour if they aren’t given recording contracts.  It’s an interesting question.  

  • steph6449

    I would think it should be clear in the various AI contracts that have become public. Are they ‘employees,’ independent contractors, contest participants, or something else?  

    The tour phase seems more like regular employment, but I’d guess they are independent contractors, or you could even view that as part of the “prize” for being a top 10 finalist.

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