'Idol' Finalist Jennifer Hudson Believes She Was Robbed - dilby.com

American Idol: Season 3 Forum

Straight from MTV, featured in the red section as of 10:56CST.

Jennifer Hudson speaks out about the show and the controversy surrounding her shocking departure.

dilby.com reporting.

The article is good, but the headline makes it sound like she's being bratty, but I don't think she is. Look.

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'Idol' Finalist Jennifer Hudson Believes She Was Robbed
04.23.2004 5:04 PM EDT

Jennifer Hudson, a 22-year-old cruise singer from Chicago, was "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson's choice from the wild-card round to join the final 12, and she made him proud with performances the judges felt got better each week. Hudson even earned the most votes one week, which made her elimination all the more surprising.

Q: Your departure is being compared to Tamyra Gray's as the most shocking in "American Idol" history. There have been all sorts of theories, from a power outage in Chicago to a racial divide. What do you think of some of these theories and do you have a theory of your own?

Jennifer Hudson: Who knows? Nobody knows what really happened, but I feel like whatever it is, it was meant to be. Right now, everybody's just trying to make sense of all this, so there's a lot of stuff thrown out there. But I don't think we'll ever know. ... I don't think it was based on talent, but if it was, I was robbed.

Q: Has anyone told you they couldn't get through because of a power outage?

Hudson: I have a lot of brothers and sisters and ... five of them had their phones completely go out. My mother's phone went out and she didn't want to tell me so I wouldn't worry about not getting any votes. She told me there was a tornado in Chicago on Tuesday, but it didn't occur me to that duh, the lines might be out, people can't vote. You know what, though, I feel like that storm was a sign from God that it was time to remove me.
And when he's got something to say, I ain't got nothing to say about it.

Q: Everyone seemed so in shock. What did the other contestants say to you?

Hudson: I was comforting everyone. They're crying and I'm like, "Why you crying? There's no need to cry." I feel like I did what I came to do. There's no need to be sad. I swear when they called my name I don't think anybody was breathing in the room.

Q. What did John Stevens say to you?

Hudson: He was like, "It should have been me." He always says that every week. But I don't think he should feel that way. He deserves to be there just as much as me or anybody else. We all feel he deserves to be there. He has fans just like we do and obviously they're voting.

Instead of pointing fingers at him, [fans] should take heed to what his fans are doing and vote.

Q: The word "diva" sometimes carries a certain connotation with it. Do you think being referred to as "the three divas" with Fantasia and La Toya hurt your chances?

Hudson: Actually, I normally have a problem with the term "diva" but I think if anything, that gave us more attention. Long before "American Idol" people used to call me a diva.

And I'd be like, "Hold on, are you calling me something else on the sly? You gonna call me a diva, call me a good diva." So somebody made up the name "The Good Diva." I'm a good person, I don't have a lot of demands, so call me the Good Diva.

Q: It was clear the three of you thought you were in the safe group. What went through your mind when you found out the opposite was true?

Hudson: It's funny now that I think about it, 'cause everybody thought we were safe and we did too. It was like, "What, are you serious?" That was a shocker, but finding out I was the one who was eliminated was not shocking at all. Not because I don't think I did a good job, because I know I did, but I never received any props or accolades from any of the judges and they always gave me a hard time, so it wasn't an easy ride for me at all. I wasn't pissed, it was just like, "Here we go with the games once again. Man, they don't stop." To be honest, I was very fed up with it, which is why I was relieved that I was eliminated. If I can't be appreciated where I'm at, then let me go.


Q: Who will you be rooting for?


Hudson: For me, my American Idol is George Huff. That's just my personal opinion. He is someone everyone should know.

SOURCE: MTV

ohhhh...i agree with the george huff part. i hope he wins.

Hey again,

As you know I always have the latest info. Well an article came out today about Jennifer and the whole situation. It focuses on why Jennifer was eliminated and the outrage at the show. The article's name is "It's 'American Idol,' not 'American Teen Idol'" and it might be highlighted in RED or ORANGE. I can't put the link to my web site, because it violates TOS, but please search for it.

It's 'American Idol,' not 'American Teen Idol'
By Susan Young


RADIO stations, critics and most adults in America gave out a collective moan Wednesday when the results of the top-rated TV show "American Idol" were revealed.

It was supposed to become the battle of the divas, according to scowling judge Simon Cowell. We had the power pipes of Oakland's own La Toya London, Fantasia Barrino and Jennifer Hudson. Cowell probably would be satisfied if viewers voted George Huff into the final four just to keep a man in the competition.

All the public had to do was vote out the obvious weak links in the competition: Sinatra wannabe John Stevens, the sweet redhead whose vocals get shakier than a California temblor each week; Miss Congeniality Diana DeGarmo, the equally sweet child who has a few years to mature into a diva, and Hawaiian honey Jasmine Trias, who has the potential in a few years to become a great nightclub singer.

Instead, America voted and the result was ... HUH???

The best singers in the competition plopped into the bottom three with a thud heard'round the TV world.

Was it a backlash against

sinister Simon?

Or even more sinister, was it racist? All three were strong black women, so there was an immediate reaction that it had to be a reflection of an America that couldn't stand the thought of a black American Idol.

Except that in the last competition, Ruben Studdard, a black man, won. Maybe that added to it. Lord, can America take two black American Idols in a row?

Or are we making too much out of this?

A reader, Gary, called in to say that an article we ran Friday unfairly pulled the race card. (The article, by Martin G. Reynolds, in fact pointed out that perhaps not enough people were calling in to support Oakland's La Toya London, as opposed to racism.)

"We tried to vote for Fantasia and kept getting a busy signal," Gary says. "We like La Toya, Jennifer, Fantasia and George, and we figured that either Fantasia or La Toya would be in the top two, so we were shocked to see them in the bottom group. I'm white, and I vote for talent, not the color of their skin."

In fact, after some careful pondering, it appears that someone played a card here.

It was the age card.

We should keep in mind who the target audience is for this show: girls and boys ages 12-17 and women 18-49. Those of us in the upper tiers of the demographic cannot compete with the dialing fingers of young teens.

No one knows how to work a redial button like those people.

So we took another look at the top contenders: Diana DeGarmo is 16. John Stevens is 16. Jasmine Trias is 17.

Those young whippersnappers are having their way with this competition, voting in the youngest. Apparently, because

of Barrino's mature voice and style, they don't know she's only 19. Or maybe that was the edge that kept her off the chopping block.

Ousted Jennifer Hudson is 22. And our lovely La Toya is 25, practically ancient by teen standards.

Time for adults all over the United States to take back their phones.

In an interview on "Mornings on 2" that aired Friday, Hudson didn't blame race or even the fact that her hometown suffered a blackout that evening that would potentially have hurt her chances.

"I wasn't shocked that I was in the bottom three," says Hudson, who has been in that position before. "But I was shocked that La Toya and Fantasia were there. But it was a pleasure to be standing with those two divas."


Hudson also said that she doesn't mind how America voted her out, because America had voted her in so often. She said that had it been up to the judges, she probably would have been out much earlier in the competition.

But being the class act that she is, she didn't mention the age discrimination that was obviously in play.

So this Tuesday, when you are getting ready to settle down to watch another round of "American Idol," remember to vote after the show.

We can't let our bedtimes get in the way. We can't let the fact that teens can never tire of a busy signal. It's just a challenge to them to keep on dialin'.

Put your fingers on the phone, my friends. And don't stop until we take out those kids.

hmmm...battle of the powervoters, now.

Again, I have two great articles that brings up the legitimacy of Ameican Idol and it's producters. They are both featured in RED. One article is in bold red, and the other is on the side bar above the terror alert.

They are titled: 'Idol' upset breeds talk of conspiracy, and the second one is titled 'IDOL' SPECULATION: Surprise vote spawns conspiracy theories. They're two great articles that I've come across and I highly recommend Jennifer fans to visit them.

These forums and TOS, which I respect moderators, prevent me from listed the web site, but I'm sure you know where to find the latest Jennifer articles.

Thank You...

dilby ... thanks for respecting the TOS. You can always post the text of the articles though if you like.