Last night there was good news for the producers of “American Idol” (who reportedly desperately wanted him off) and bad news for shock jock Howard Stern (who wanted him to stay on to complicate matters for the global TV megahit): the reign of the multi-haircut donning Sanjaya Malakar is finally over:
Somewhere out there, “American Idol” producers, and judge Simon Cowell, are hoisting frosty ones and heaving huge sighs of relief.
After an inexplicably long run that was full of flash, goofy haircuts, gleaming smiles and more showmanship than all of the other finalists combined, phenom “Idol” underdog Sanjaya Malakar finally ran out of gas Wednesday night.
Following a painfully flat rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” on Tuesday night’s country-themed show (see ” ‘Idol’ Recap: ‘I’m Officially Over Sanjaya’; Phil Actually Pulls Off Country Night “), Malakar was sent home to the grinning satisfaction of Cowell, who hinted before the elimination that he suspected the jig was up.
This MTV article also notes that Cowell also cleared up what was apparently yet another blog-outrage-firestorm sparked by an original news item report that now seems questionable that was jet propelled into the blogosphere by the You Know Who Report (but what are weblogs for without expressing rage in at least one post a day?):
The night began with a somber Cowell again saying that he would “never, ever, ever” disrespect the families of the slain students at Virginia Tech, explaining his misinterpreted eye roll Tuesday night during Chris Richardson’s comments about Monday’s campus shootings. A split-screen demonstration was rolled out to show that Cowell had not heard Richardson’s comments because the judge was too busy slamming the singer’s “nasally” crooning.
(The site that ran this story has done this before and many weblogs than go into Outrage Mode but the corrections or clarifications on the later stories are not generally up on the site as long or displayed prominently. We pass on exclusives from that site until the mainstream media report the same facts.)
Meanwhile, the show’s host Ryan Seacrest made a classic understatement when Sanjaya was dismissed to what most certainly will be concerts, a recording contract and appearances on some TV shows and perhaps a movie or two (notoriety is what counts in America):
“I can promise you: We won’t soon forget you,” Seacrest said.
SOME OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST
What’s the deal ‘Idol’s’ Sanjaya?
Getting to the bottom of the Sanjaya mystery
Sanjaya exits ‘American Idol.’ Try to be strong
In vindication for Simon Cowell, ‘American Idol’ finally says sayonara to Sanjaya Malakar
Sanjaya gets booed at baseball game
Sayonara Sanjaya!
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.