“American Idol” Producers To David Archuleta: You’ll Play For Your Hometown Fans When We Tell You To, Little Boy
Those scrooges at American Idol are thwarting runner-up David Archuleta’s quest to give back to his hometown and to charity! Archie was slated to play a “thanks for voting for me” concert at the E Center in Salt Lake City this coming Friday, with proceeds from the show going to an unspecified charitable organization But the show’s bigwigs put the kibosh on the show, perhaps because they were afraid that after last year’s soft ticket sales for the annual Idol summer tour, effectively giving a whole market a reason to say “oh, I saw who I wanted to see already, so I’ll spend my money on a gallon of gas instead” when given the option to pony up for a show was maybe not the best strategy for bringing in revenue. (But I thought Brooke White was a Mormon, too?)
Tuesday afternoon, Archuleta’s agent — Roger Widynowski — said there would be no concert due to contractural obligations between the 17-year-old and American Idol.
On Saturday, Archuleta and several other Idol contestants will begin touring the country as part of the reality show’s official summer concerts.
Widynowski did not go into detail as to why Archuleta could not perform at the E Center — but just said that the Murray High School student simply could not appear at the non-American Idol sanctioned event.
Widynowski said the “thank you” concert would instead be postponed to a later date, which was not set. However, the agent said it would have to wait until the American Idol tour concludes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the poll question attached to the story above–“Should the show go on?”–is running 80.5% pro to 19.5% con. (And yes, I voted yea, if only because that kid needs a little bit of joy in his life. I’m telling you, once he finally has the power to make his own decisions about his life, look out.)
