American Idol Contestant Charges Anti-Gay Discrimination

By On 07/26/2010 · 27 Comments · In American Idol

Former American Idol contestant, Ian Bernardo sent a fax to Rodney Ho of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (and probably others) informing him that he had filed a complaint in the New York’s division of Human Rights office against Idol producers for illegal workplace discrimination.

According to Rodney, in 2006 Ian performed Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” during auditions and was one of those comic/trainwreck auditions.

If you watched the Season 9 Idol finale, you saw Ian attempt to hijack the skit/performance with Dane Cook and a slew of other Idol joke contestants serenading Simon Cowell. Ian grabbed the mic and proceeded to go off script, at which point, he was cut off, and the show went to commercial.

Bernado in the suit says the producers “exploited my non-conforming appearance and sexual orientation. They did this by directing me to ‘gay it up’ in any appearance I made on camera… Although characterized as an ‘audition’ to the public at large, in fact, I was and was paid as an employee of respondents for each appearance.”

He said employees of “Idol” derided him for his appearance using words like “fag” and “homo.” “The workplace,” he said, “was permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, insults and hostile and offensive comments that were so severe as to alter my working conditions and create an environment that was abusive and ultimately threatening to my safety.”

Ian is asking $300,000 in damages.  So is he talking about stuff that happened in 2006? It sounds like it, doesn’t it? If so, why did he wait to come forward?  The dude comes across as a total attention whore, so who knows what the deal is here.  Rodney promises to keep us updated if he hears any more. Oh goodie.

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  • http://www.myspace.com/lauraoestrella Laury

      The dude comes across as a total attention whore, so who knows what the deal is here. 

    Agree!

  • smeggingnuts

    haha that guy is an attention whore, if you watch So You Think You
    Can Dance he auditions all the time…

  • J9BT

    Ian is asking $3,000 in damages.

    MJ – I think this is a typo. He’s asking for $300,000 according to the article.

    This guy is out of his mind, although if IDOL is forced to fight this legal battle, they may decide to settle for a fraction of this amount. Unbelievable.

  • J9BT

    smeggingnuts:
    07/26/2010 at 3:42 pm
    haha that guy is an attention whore, if you watch So You Think You
    Can Dance he auditions all the time…

    Really? I thought that was someone who calls himself “Sex” – ???

  • tommy

    Ridiculous. So he got paid?, he should be grateful he snookered them out of one dime for making himself look like an idiot. He is no victim, he is just dishing out some sour grapes because he probably thought he would get some career out of it, and what he got instead was nothing. Look Ian, you milked it for all it’s worth, time to move on and grow up.

  • Studio57

    I am pretty sure, and hopefully someone will back me up on this if they remember, but didn’t Dane Cook yell for someone to “get that fucking faggot( or something very similar) out of here” after he grabbed the mic? Isn’t that what he was talking about?

    ETA- i knew I wasn’t crazy:

    http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/06/exclusive-dane-cook-called-me-fggot-says-gay-idol%20

  • Eileen99

    Ugh. I hate these kinds of publicity stunts. Why the heck did he wait so long if he was so aggrieved? That bit on the finale last year was ridiculous, I really wish they’d do away with the segments that are intended to make fun of people.

  • Idoltard10

    For one, this dude is a serious attention whore, no doubt…however, I’ve always thought Idol had it in for gay contestants. I don’t think Fox, Sony,19/Jive/RCA or anyone associated with them are stupid enough to discrimminate on the level Ian is claiming, but they certainly play to their voting audience, which tends to be of the conservative middle american, middle aged, female variety. So, more wholesome All American Idols are in their best interest. Unfortunately ‘flamboyantly gay’ doesn’t fit into that category in this country just yet. Also, I’ve always thought the trainwreck auditions were staged, and the people making fools of themselves paid to be comic relief for the sake of ratings during the time when fanbases have yet to form. It’s a way to hold the viewers’ interest until they pick a favorite.So I do believe he was paid to act like a moron. No problem for him, cuz he IS an attention whore. Now that being said, Ian is a moron…he needs to hang this up.

  • koshka

    Why the heck did he wait so long if he was so aggrieved?

    Ran out of beer money?

  • Incipit

    discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, insults and hostile and offensive comments that were so severe as to alter my working conditions and create an environment that was abusive

    Please. That sounds like any number of the thinly veiled homophobic exchanges between Simon and Ryan over the years – and reflective of Nigel’s “sense of humor” – No one could have watched the show and not known what sort of distasteful ‘Benny Hill’ excuse for repartee they habitually engaged in.

    So they told him to “Gay it up” and he took the money in 2006 and didn’t say No, but now he’s got a problem? Or a lawyer who is willing to make it a problem, in a different atmosphere than existed in 2006, in any case. (pun intended)

    Idol will likely settle from their Nuisance Lawsuit Contingency Fund….with a non-disclosure clause, and no admittance of culpability.

    IMO. Of course.

  • starhart

    hmmm. We all saw how poor Adam barely made it thru, week to week, as he fought against judge’s attitudes and had zero cooperation from the lighting and staging directors…(heavy on sarcasm here).

    Adam won and won everyone over by being an unf*cking believable talent who didn’t care if people were “skeered”, and who followed his heart and head. AI is not manned by fools. If you are willing to play out a stereotype in order to get attention and some quick cash, they are certainly going to be willing to exploit that–it is good tv. Maybe poor social conditioning, but they are just providing what the audience loves to hate.

    If Ian had been a serious contender, who took himself and talent seriously, so would have TPTB. Look at Adam…just saying.

  • Kirsten
    if you watch So You Think You
    Can Dance he auditions all the time…

    Really? I thought that was someone who calls himself “Sex” – ???

    Ian also appeared on SYTYCD and he cannot dance. I seem to recall that he auditioned for SYTYCD before AI.

    I well remember, his AI audition. They played it up in the promos because he started demanding to see Simon Cowell’s work visa. Oh, and he couldn’t sing.

    He obviously was trying to get some attention to probably somehow further his career in the entertainment industry. Why did he come back on the show this year if he felt he was treated so badly last time? He would have been better off suing before S8 because Idol really looked bad before then.

  • starhart

    Adam won and won everyone over

    whoops, typo above. Adam didn’t *exactly* win…but as you can see, I never consider him other than *the winner*.

  • Mtlfan

    he’s obviously just trying to make a big buck out of this. *totally lame* pfff

  • Idoltard10

    LOL starhart, we know what you meant. The bottom line is, two of the most celebrated Idol contestants ever- Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert- are openly gay. Adam is the first openly gay artist to be signed to a major US label that was open at the start of a career in the US music industry. Yeah, a whole lotta discrimination there. *insert eye roll* He’s also getting more promotion than many RCA artists right now, and his fan site just got its own brand new server because it is too active to share servers with the only Sony site. If anything, its the opposite of discrimination. this Ian dude just ran out of reality shows to audition for.

  • http://myspace.com/girlgeek mj

    Reminder:

    This thread is totally NOT turning into a thread about Adam Lambert. Please get back on topic.

  • smeggingnuts

    J9BT:
    07/26/2010 at 3:44 pm
    smeggingnuts:
    07/26/2010 at 3:42 pm
    haha that guy is an attention whore, if you watch So You Think You
    Can Dance he auditions all the time…

    Really? I thought that was someone who calls himself “Sex” – ???

    There is that guy Sex but this guy auditioned I think season 2
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6e1E8vAAvU

    I thought he auditioned another season but I can’t find anything

  • abbysee

    *Yawn* The guy’s a loon. End o’ story!

  • Duke

    LOL

    I LOVE THIS GUY!!!!

    MORE IAN BENARDO!!!!

  • Marie Ruffin

    Chickens coming home to roost? It has been obvious for some time that the producers like to get the looniest, craziest, gayest, extremist performer on camera. And this is one they wish had never gone through. And why do they let him audition for SYT every season? At some point, you close the door on these lunatics.

  • Idoltard10

    You know, if Ian Bernardo-or anyone, for that matter- is that desperate for fame, all they gotta do is do a reality show in the vein of say, Meet the Kardashians or something like that. He’s on the right track, but he needs to do a reality show that doesn’t require any talent, since he obviously doesn’t have any.

  • abbysee

    Chickens coming home to roost? It has been obvious for some time that the producers like to get the looniest, craziest, gayest, extremist performer on camera. And this is one they wish had never gone through. And why do they let him audition for SYT every season? At some point, you close the door on these lunatics.

    Why add gay to the stream of loons? Furthermore, if you allow yourself to be used, then who is at fault?

  • http://mjsbigblog.com/luvadamlamberts-american-idol-tour-2009-washington-dc-re-cap.htm luvadamlambert

    Ugh what an attention whore

  • HotHotHot

    Pathetic loser!

  • stingray11214

    This is what happens when you put obvious no-talents on the show.

  • Jae

    No this isn’t an Adam thread but I think the point is very valid that this guy has little grounds to stand on since Adam came out so well for S8. Also, there were a lot of gay during season 8. Norman, that other guy in the head band are two that come to mind. But I totally agree he is looking for attention. He wants another 5 mins of fame.

  • iluvai

    I’m of the opinion, earn your own money. Don’t look for ridiculous loopholes for some free change. I find this disgusting.