Oh, Lordy: Did Carly Smithson Get Voted Off For Blasphemy?

noah | April 25, 2008 10:45 am
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File this under “probably not surprising, but still kind of a bummer”: There are rumblings on the American Idol boards that Carly Smithson was eliminated this week because she angered the Bible Belt by singing “Superstar” from Jesus Christ Superstar, given that the song is sung by Judas and the play itself, as Tim Rice said in its program, has as its central idea “Christ seen through the eyes of Judas, with Christ as a man, not as a god.” (Wait, doesn’t this mean they should also be peevish with Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote the damn thing and who told Carly to switch up her song choice from something more ballady and Celine-like?) Given that Kristy Lee Cook pretty much saved her bland, off-key ass for multiple weeks thanks to goodwill from her performance of “God Bless The USA,” this theory is kinda plausible, and this americanidol.com post by FightinIRISHIowan would further bear it out:

There are a LOT of people with their panties in a bunch over her song choice. I have been trying to defend her everytime I see one, but it’s like hitting off a bunch of flies….flies that bite!

One even had the notion that Carly was not a christian because she didn’t talk about praying like the “other christian contestants did on their bio page”. I am so sick of idiots…..

I could also say that it’s kind of convenient for these viewers to get all het up about the interpretation of lyrics by singers they don’t like, but be totally OK with singers who can’t really interpret their lyrics at all and need Daddy’s help to do so because said singers are button-cute. But anyway. One bright side to this whole debacle: It may provide a hint as to who’s still watching the show (aside from the always-lucrative “people who blog about it” demo), as its ratings were down again this week–total viewership took a 700,000-person hit, while its 8.2 rating/21 share among viewers ages 18-49 was its lowest tally among that demographic in years.

carly in danger with that song choice [americanidol.com] Why Carly went home and a note to future idols. [americanidol.com] ‘Idol’ Song Choice Courts Controversy and Finds It; Singer Is Voted Off [NYT] “American Idol” slips further in ratings [Reuters] Webmaster’s advice for ‘Idol’: Let the bad in [Daily Herald]

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