I don't watch American Idol, but if they showed more stuff like this maybe I would.
According to the Associated Press, David Archuleta's father has been banned from the show after having David add lyrics from a Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" to his son's rendition of "Stand by Me". By doing that, the show had to pay more money in royalties (because it's, like, two songs instead of one I guess.)
Archuleta's dad, Jeff, was warned not to do this, but did it anyway. I'm going to guess that he was being a pain in the butt in other ways as well, although I have no proof of this. USA Today says that Jeff had been "a strong presence behind the scenes," which is usually showbiz lingo for "really really annoying." Jeff Archuleta referred to himself in an US Weekly interview as a "music consultant" rather than a "stage dad." Like I said, no proof that he's difficult to deal with. Just a guess.
Idolator says that the ban guarantees victory for David. Sympathy vote and all that. On the other hand, if you look at other dads who get way too involved in their kids' careers (paging Joe Simpson), maybe the producers of the show did him a favor.
Here's the performance that got dad booted:
Hear that bit at the end? "Bee-yoo-tiful girls"? That was it. It really made the number for me. You too, right? Riiight.
Here's the interesting thing: David, one of the three finalists in the
contest, is only 17. I don't know what the legalities of this sort of
action are. Can American Idol tell someone who is under 18 that they
have to navigate the waters of television on their own? Doesn't he have
the right to have a legal guardian around him if he wants it? Some
media outlets have suggested that Idol allow only those over 18 to
compete; this would seem to support that argument.
image: MTV.com
