The R card
: Elton John says American Idol is racist. Nevermind that one winner was black. Nevermind that the first people voted off this year were white. A talented black singer was voted off while an untalented white singer with red hair stays on and Elton John throws out the glib charge of racism.
37 responses to “The R card”
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I thought everyone agreed it was the stupid tornado in her home state that cost Jennifer.
Also, has anyone else noticed that John is the only teenage boy left on a show watched by every teenage girl in America?
This isn’t rocket science. -
Quite right, it’s ain’t racism. It’s been suggested though that it is ageism – the hopeless losers that every week somehow manage to stay in the game are all the youngest, by a long way. I guess this just reflects the target audience.
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Perhaps he wants more bald, gay popstars?
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probably he is talking about discrimination against white people!
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MrAcheson, please quit talking bad about Phil Collins. I am a big fan.
Just kidding, people. -
Gib is on target. American Idol is a show that happens to have a lot of singing on it, but its still at TV show. Teen girls could really care less about music (hence the recurrence of boy bands) and more about crushing on some boy who can warble a fair tune.
And of course, the girls are the ones phoning in.. after a few seasons of telephone fun, everyone else in the country has better things to do with their time and money. -
Does it really take American Idol to realize that America remains a racist country? If nothing else, shows like this that “put the power in the people’s hands” simply legitimate and institutionalize the racist undercurrents that still permeate our culture.
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The show is targeted to white, pre-teen girls. Simple as that. Don’t look to television for any meaningful social commentary.
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I will defend Elton because here is the reality. the results last week were quite out-of-whack. Jennifer was one of the best that week. So was LaToya, also in the bottom 3. FAntasia was also great, but i could see how some people might not go for her despite her talent.
Is it racism? I think there are people who vote according to demographics. Black women have a specific demographic fan base they are dipping into, and sadly no matter how good a black woman is, there are alot of people locked into other demographics that won’t vote for them. that relates to both sex and race. alot of women see that contest as about who is the cutest guy, for instance, and alot of guys see it as being about who is the cutest girl. we all know this happens. otherwise none of these boy bands would get work.
I also think another thing worked against them: they were so good, no one thought they needed votes. I think some people assumed they would get so many votes that their votes would be better spent elsewhere. Remember each vote costs money, at least as i understand it. i could never bring myself to pay for something so trivial. -
Michael: You’re a racist for saying that.
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It is embarassing that this is even an issue.
The only person who sees this as a racist issue is one who is preoccupied by race already, and only sees the world in black and white.
This is a TV show and a popularity contest, it is not life. -
All this makes me want to go back and reread “Harrison Bergeron” again. Let’s have the 211th and 212th Amendments added and _make_ everyone equal. In fact, let’s fix the music business first by forbidding the selling of any kind of music. The Government Bureau of Music can produce music made by randomly selected people chosen to reflect the population, burn it onto CDs and ship it everyone. We’ll all listen to the same music, and everyone will be treated equally.
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i stopped watching when they booted william hung.
who, by the way, did the most memorable version of elton john’s Rocket Man dare i say Ever. -
Michael: You’re a racist for saying that.
Posted by Buzz at April 28, 2004 11:26 AM
Please explain…. -
I dare say that I think they are all pretty horrid this time around, and there is no one on the show that I really think is so head and shoulders above the rest – let alone other people I have seen perform locally – that should be an “american idol”. This show is turning out like this season’s “Survivor” – irrelevant.
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It makes one shake their head that Elton John could even say something like that following the victory of Ruben something (big dude). I mean why as a country aren’t we punishing such sloppy thinking, like we would someone who insisted the earth was flat.
Elton John is a fool who should have had his ass kicked a long time ago -
Elton John – Probably a big fan of Stern. Let’s see, last year a big fat black dude won, the year before the runner up was a bi-racial kid, and this year (what?) three of the remaining 6 kids are not white, but no it’s “racist”.
Laughable and stupid, but i guess Sir Elton has a CD to plug or something and he needs the press. -
Oh one other thing: In Sir Elton’s world, Eminem is neither a misogynist or homophobic, and AI is racist. Someone sh see if he hit his head on his piano or all those years of coke abuse have finally caught up with him.
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My my my. We’re a racist nation because some black chick gets voted off a TV show where 3 other blacks remained.
If this is what Blacks in this country have to complain about, seems to me like they’re doing just fine.
It certainly is a long way from Massah whipping their slaves for not picking enough cotton, isn’t it?
If anything, this illustrates the amazing progress this nation has made in this area. -
maybe it’s more that people are sick and tired of the florid, over-exaggerated “diva” style of pop singing than a question of race?
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I wonder…..has ole Elton ever had sex with a black man?
Because if he hasn’t….he’s racist by his own standards. -
Trump: does that make me homophobic since I’ve never had sex with a gay person?
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Ivana – By Sir Elton’s standards yes you wd be homophobic. Unless you are Eminem, then you wd be an artist. A little confusing but what the hey.
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You’re all nuts. Seacrest OUT!
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Michael:
I was using the term “racist” in the modern sense (in scare quotes.) I disagreed with your sentiments about the USA as a racist nation, so I decided to tar you as a “racist” in response. I didn’t really have any other reason for doing so, but then again I’ve been told that racism permeates the culture so I knew I couldn’t be that far off.
Actually, while I don’t believe racism permeates the culture, I believe that “racism” does. “Racism” is an industry that keeps activists engaged, keeps some politicians in office, and allows news readers to make ten second analyses for TV. “Racism” allows Elton John to explain in five seconds what could otherwise take hours to explain: why his tastes differ from the American Idol voters, sampling bias, etc. And that’s where the real magic comes in: when he jumps on the “racism” bandwagon, he automatically validates everyone else (like you) already there!
Anyway, the mystery was dissipated for me fifteen years ago. I had a neighbor who liked to store his garbage cans in my assigned parking space. Every night when I got home from work I had to move them out, and every day when I left for work he would move them back in. As it turns out, I am white, he is black, and one evening he runs out to confront me on the garbage cans and calls me a “racists.”
Well there it is: I imagined the entire weight of history, of Native American genocide, of the slave trade, of Frederick Douglas’ and Rosa Parks’ disapproving stares, of the entire history of the white man’s burden all bearing down on me in a single instant, all this and more marshalled in the service of taking my parking spot for storing someone else’s garbage cans.
While I have a few choice words for people like you, I will leave you with just one: banality. -
I don’t think it’s racist either. Jennifer, Fantasia, Diana, Jasmine and Latoya all share a relatively similar musical style. People tend to like a particular style and vote for singers that they like. So, those 3 have been splitting the “Diva” votes all along.
Meanwhile, in addition to the Teen factor, the readhead has been getting 100% of the “Crooner” vote. I predict that soon this will be too small a contingent to keep him in the competition.
George has put up a few stinker performances recently too, but he’s got the motown sound going, which gives him an audience all to himself too. Or, maybe the competition is sexist too!
Truly, no need to knee jerk and get race involved here. -
I apparently butchered my bookmarks yesterday and the first thing I saw this morning when I went to the BBC News site was that Elton John piece. Geez, I thought, why’d the Beeb put this nonsense at the top of the site. I know they’re on an anti-Yank role, but this is silly. Oh…it’s just the Entertainment section.
Still…the word “chutzpah” comes to mind, doesn’t it? How about someone call up the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton and ask if they know how the UK managed to put itself in a position to judge the racism of others. -
It seems that it’s been an awfully long time since Sir Elton had a hit record, poor dear.
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“Oh one other thing: In Sir Elton’s world, Eminem is neither a misogynist or homophobic, and AI is racist”
Nail meet head…. -
All the talented black musicians in America and the U.K., and Elton doesn’t have any in his band.
He might as well put on his hood before he goes on the stage. -
what’s worrisome about this buffonery is that Elton must think that there’s a big audience for this kind of shit. And, having heard this cretin speak before, I’m sure he didn’t come up with this himself, so there’s a whole group of people who are believing this shit and talking about how AI is racist.
The level of widespread stupidty in the world is so so depressing -
Frankly: apparently there is a big audience for this, given that 31 people have commented on it here alone.
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Ryan:
Thanks for the reminder about the Eminem fiasco. I now have to upgrade Sir Elton from an insipid member of the British entertainment aristocracy to a ten-gallon asshat. -
Who would ever watch this show, “Idol”, is an imbecile. I would very much favor the “Beverly Hillbillies” as a route to establish one’s credibility, instead. This is clear not only due to the Hillbillies’ superior logic regarding human nature, but also because they tout bears, raccoons, ostriches, and monkies as idols, in a display of intuitive recognition of their superiors. Race is not an issue.
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“Thanks for the reminder about the Eminem fiasco. I now have to upgrade Sir Elton from an insipid member of the British entertainment aristocracy to a ten-gallon asshat.”
Wasn’t my catch…you can thank hen for that.
But it really puts it into focus. Eminem is what he is but Elton went out of his way to deflect the heat he was catching. Here Elton simply calls out racism when the reality is likely gender bias.
Kind of puts his outrage into focus….he hates the incoming competition ;-) -
Three of the five remaining Idols are black, so the show is racist, and four of them are female, so the show is sexist.
Isn’t America great? -
Hmm, maybe there’s a movie in this: “White Men Can’t Sing”!!
