Scott MacIntyre’s Search For The “American Idol” Title Is Over

noah | April 9, 2009 9:15 am

Last night’s American Idol ended with Scott MacIntyre getting eliminated, even though there was some sort of split between the judges over whether or not they should use the save on him and allow him to stick around for another week. It’s hard to tell if that “debate” was just a bunch of drama manufactured for the show’s way-under-budget running time or more attempts by Paula and Kara to be kind of condescending to him. I mean, he seemed like a nice guy (and funny!), but a George Michael soundalike who prefers to model his performance style on Bruce Hornsby doesn’t exactly scream “contemporary artist.”

Anyway, part of me is glad that the Paula/Kara attempts-to-be-nice will be done until at least the finale. After all, MacIntyre has done things that are much more difficult to handle with a visual impairment than singing and holding one’s own in front of four oversized egos with big mouths. A 2004 profile of him that ran on Arizona State University’s Web site notes that he “swims, hikes and skis—with a sighted guide in front of him—and teaches salsa, swing and ballroom dancing.” And he’s also written his own computer games (oh man, do I hope he crafts one based on his Idol experiences). I like his voice quite a bit, even if his stylings are a bit dated, but there was no way he was going to win this competition.

Farewell, Scott. You showed the world that even in the TMZ era, celebrities can still be completely awkward when they don’t want to be perceived as “mean.”

Next week’s mentor is… Quentin Tarantino? Well, I wonder if this means that someone gets to sing “Across 110th St.” (NOT DANNY.)

My favorite movie of all time.

American Idol [Official site] Across 110th Street [YouTube]