Nigel Lythgoe: Why You Be Hating on Lee DeWyze? (Update: Nigel Calls Lee a Liar)

By On 05/27/2011 · 248 Comments · In American Idol, Lee Dewyze

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UPDATE: Nigel tweets Friday morning, “I don’t wish to continue the @leedewyze story. True, he wasn’t asked to sing but Lee knows he was asked to present the trophy a week before.” Ugh Nigel…if you don’t want to continue the story…why are you tweeting about it? Nigel is basically calling Lee a liar!

UPDATE 2: Lee tweets a response: I have no hard feelings towards Nigel, Idol, or anyone else. I love music, and that’s what I’m going to focus on. I support American Idol…and all it has done for me. I respect the decisions made for the Finale, and hope alls well that ends well. Thank you guys for everything:)

I have no idea what really went down behind the scenes when TPTB put together the finale, but I will say, in this twitter volley between Nigel and Lee, Lee’s comes off as the guy taking the high road…

***

There’s been a ton of controversy surrounding Lee DeWyze’s absence from last night’s American Idol finale. Typically, the reigning champ appears at the finale– whether to sing or pass the baton to the new winner in some fashion.

When Lee told fans a couple of days ago, that he was not asked to sing at this year’s finale, folks were pretty upset. His brother, Mike in particular let loose with some invective, calling the situation bullsh*t–going as far as to call Idol producers  “scumbags”.  He later deleted his angrier tweets and apologized. But heh–that was nothing compared to what Lee’s fans had to say to Nigel!

Maybe it was the abuse at the hands of Idol fans that led the American Idol producer  to tweet this strange message in the wee hours of Thursday morning: “I was so upset Lee DeWyze wouldn’t present the winners trophy to Scotty. Especially as he’d been on the show this Season. I guess he was shy.”

What the heck? Never has a reigning Idol taken the stage to present the new winner with a trophy, so what was Nigel talking about? Finally, Lee took to twitter tonight to set the story straight:

Hey everyone, first off I want to say congrats to Scotty & Lauren, awesome job. Well done Scotty! Secondly, just for the record… I was not asked to be involved in the Finale. It wasn’t until about 2 minutes before they announced that Nigel had approached me and asked if he could “borrow” me for a second. I didn’t feel a last second jump on stage was appropriate. It was Scotty’s moment.I appreciate American Idol, and the opportunity it has given me. And the people who have made that show possible. I am not angry, or bitter etc. It was an amazing Finale, and I would have loved to be a part of it. I just wasnt asked.Good luck to all the Contestants and stay true to yourself. Thanks everyone for your support, tour coming up… Good times I’ll talk to you all soon. Love ya!

It’s important to note that Nigel was not executive producer of American Idol during Lee’s season. Maybe that’s why it’s been easy for Nigel to be so dismissive of the Season 9 winner. Nigel wants to pretend that Season 9 never happened. But it did, and as such, it should have been acknowledged last night, in some way, as the crown passed. And no, Nigel. some half-assed idea to drag poor Lee onstage at the last minute counts. I don’t blame Lee one bit for turning him down.

 
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  • Dlynne

    I can’t say I have followed Nigel or others behind the scenes, but I don’t think just the one tweet constitutes “bullying.”

    I consider Nigel’s passive/aggressive behavior in this instance to be bullying. It was uncalled for.

  • cokezero

    Lee should be grateful people are even talking about him. Nigel’s tweets have been the most I’ve heard about him in months.

  • kvwicks13

    Well of course Lee’s fans know what he’s been up to since we follow him closely…he just came back from a tour from Asia.

    I have no idea what Crystal and the others from Season 9 are up to since I don’t follow them.

  • TwigLA

    I’m not convinced that “the public” even knows or cares about this little kerfluffle.

    Fox LA morning news reported on Lee ‘refusing’ to give Scotty the trophy and read Nigel’s tweet on the air.

    Kris may have been awarded it on the show, but last I heard it was still in LA and he doesn’t have his either.

  • Trina

    This blog helped bring Lee down? Damn who know we had so much power!

  • soverymel

    LOL forever Montavilla!

  • Brook52

    Well I hope this motivates more people listen to Lee instead of just assuming that they don’t like his music- take a listen to Beautiful Like You and Pretty Eyes on Youtube- they are sung with such passion and honesty- for me it is what separates him from all of the other musicial artists that are popular at this time.

  • tripp_ncwy

    Kris may have been awarded it on the show, but last I heard it was still in LA and he doesn’t have his either.

    Why would it be in LA when he no longer lives there? It’s back in AR with him in a box somewhere.

  • Ratna12

    Maybe we have a witness.

    On today’s channel 11 Fox LA, Dorothy Lucy who is the
    entertainment reporter of the news and an idol junkie reported this.

    DL: So the producer of Idol and our good friend Nigel, said that Lee refused to present the top prize to Scotty and Nigel tweeted,” I was so upset…”

    Other reporter: So, was it a tradition ?

    DL: Not necessarily. But Lee was there. He was sitting in the 5th row. He wasn’t in the show & nobody pointed that he was there until the commercial break.

    And during the break near the end, cause I was sitting in that row, I saw Nigel go over and talked to Lee. I guess he was asking him to go up stage. I guess Lee didn’t want to go.

  • idolhound2011

    I agree with you on the bashing 50diamonds, but not winners, only one Lee. no body gets the bashing that Lee gets, NOBODY.

  • Mtlfan

    so if Lee refused earlier why did Nigel went to ask him 5 min before the crowning? something not logical here.

  • soverymel

    I agree with you on the bashing 50diamonds, but not winners, only one Lee. no body gets the bashing that Lee gets, NOBODY.

    Aaaand Lee quickly goes from sympathetic underdog getting a raw deal to Idol’s most noble martyr. I feel my urge to make a protest sympathy album purchase subsiding.

  • webster

    so if Lee refused earlier why did Nigel went to ask him 5 min before the crowning? something not logical here.

    A) MJ’s post says he was asked a week in advance. It doesn’t say he refused. He might have failed to respond, for example.
    B) Sometimes when people say no to a request, the requesters ask a second time.

    Information is incomplete, but I see no logical fallacy.

  • songsungblue

    Looks like his girlfriend is equally p.o’d:

    jonnawalsh Jonna Walsh
    Let’s give a huge round of applause to American Idol for supporting their reigning champion. NOT. fools. Idiots. Unsupportive jerks. Yep.

    I find it slightly disingenuous to believe that everyone around Lee was tweeting their hostility, and he was all, “No for reals! I f’love my Idol family!” Come on, he was PISSED. He had to have groused to his family and girlfriend. If he had taken it in stride, I have a feeling they might have too.

    Here’s a thought. The franchise held him responsible for the near demise of the show [I'm not saying it's fair, I'm saying they did]. So there was something brewing already, and it flew to the surface. That’s my guess.

  • kvwicks13

    Where does it confirm that he was asked a week in advance?

  • Weebs787

    Looks like his girlfriend is equally p.o’d:

    This is the only thing keeping me from being 100% team Lee. Had Mike and Jonna just said nothing, the only thing we’d have to base Lee’s side on would be Lee’s tweets, which for the most part have been nothing but respectful. But knowing how much Mike and Jonna reacted BEFORE the finale, makes me question their side a bit. Something happened before the show to piss them off enough to tweet those things, and I don’t know how angry you’d get just simply not being asked to perform. And if that is why they’re so angry, I’d just say get over it. heh. But Nigel has certainly been trying to vilify Lee to the point where I almost want to side with Lee. So for now, I’m team “Please just stfu both of you and continue on your merry way w/o each other” :)

  • annie12120

    The franchise held him responsible for the near demise of the show [I'm not saying it's fair, I'm saying they did]. So

    Hmm.. there were 9 others in the Top 10 and 4 crappy judges… and the producers who chose the top contestants, so I don’t think Lee was the “only” one last year in bringing down the big cheese that is AI. Thank god Scotty was there this year to save this show from the brink of collapse ;)

  • songsungblue

    Note that I pointed out it wasn’t fair – but I do get a sense they feel this way. Lee quickly went from winner to punchline. So did AI. Is it appropriate? No. You’re right, of course. The casting, the Simon factor – that’s essentially what sunk the season. But I think that could be behind Nigel’s nasty edge.

  • webster

    05/27/2011 at 11:00 pm
    Where does it confirm that he was asked a week in advance?

    AFAIK, nothing is confirmed. Nigel tweets one thing, Lee tweets something different. It’s anyone’s guess, what the truth is. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I tend to assume people are telling the truth, which could easily be the case here: Nigel makes an offer a week before the show. Too little, too late, or whatever, Lee either refuses or ignores ( or doesn’t hear about it). Nigel makes the offer again 2 minutes before the presentation. Both tweets technically true.

  • goboywonder

    Too little, too late, or whatever, Lee either refuses or ignores ( or doesn’t hear about it). Nigel makes the offer again 2 minutes before the presentation. Both tweets technically true.

    If the invitation was made a week before and Lee had either refused, ignored (or didn’t hear about it), why was there not an attempt to follow up the request or get a confirmation before the show actually started? Wasn’t Lee out doing press for them? To ask only minutes before he was to have made the announcement seems disingenuous. Also, is it known why Lee didn’t do the KIIS viewing party?

  • samgamgee

    Ugh, Nigel is such a drama queen.

  • Axxxel

    @ Jablea says:05/27/2011 at 12:01 pm and
    @ Montavilla says:05/27/2011 at 12:57 pm
    I also remember the Adam Lambert issue at last years’ final.. Adam Lambert said that he had no idea that he was supposed to be on stage with the other past Idol finalists….that he was just to be in the audience.
    He thought that only the Idol winnersWINNERS were going to grace the stage….And when he saw the other finalists on the stage … he was like …oh dear &^$^#$^#$(#()…

  • tyrpen

    I saw an interesting exchange on twitter. Someone said to Nigel ” Don’t the fans know that when they insult you they only make it worse for their idol” ?
    And Nigel agreed. So is he admitting that he is a small minded, vindictive, ahole that gets even by taking it out on the idol what some fan says that the idol has no control over?

    Sounds that way to me.

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