The American Idolater

This looks like a pretty weird story.

It says that Akron Watson auditioned for American Idol in San Antonio and got through to Hollywood on “yes” votes from Simon and Paula. Producers sent a crew out to talk to him and get one of those back-story segments that they love using. And then things got a little weird:

“We talked about everything,” says Akron. And that included his days of skipping school, chasing girls, drinking, and even pleading guilty to possession of marijuana after a police officer found no more than a doobie’s worth of pot in his car. It also included the personal wakeup call Akron got when his brother died, and his dedication to being a good Christian from that day forth.

In the weeks after the crew came out to interview Akron, he received numerous e-mails from producers at American Idol with information regarding his trip to Hollywood for the next round of auditions. Naturally, Akron grew more and more excited by the opportunity to become the next American Idol as the Hollywood round neared. But then, less than a week before he was supposed to get on a plane headed for Los Angeles, Akron received a disturbing phone call from a representative of the show.

“I was supposed to leave that Monday, they called me on a Thursday,” explains Akron. “They said we’re not gonna let you go. And I asked ‘why?’ And he said ‘Well I’m not really sure’… and then he gave me some alternatives for what I should say to people if they asked why I was kicked off … He told me to tell people that I was now an alternate … That would protect [me] and protect the show.”

Pretty weird, huh? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow if they show us any of his audition. I’m guessing they won’t, because if they changed their mind about letting him go to Hollywood, there’s not much point in getting anyone interested in seeing more of him based on his audition. He’ll just be one of the faceless “20 others” that we don’t see.

Even the AI public relations people don’t know what to say about Watson:

Yesterday, I spoke twice with American Idol PR representative Alex Gillespie to see if the show had any official explanation for why Akron was not allowed to tryout in Hollywood. When I first talked to Gillespie, she told me that she would find out exactly what happened for me. Then when I spoke with her later in the day, she apologized and told me that the show would not ever be giving a reason for Akron’s elimination from the competition.

As the Fox network’s air-date for the American Idol San Antonio search nears, Akron Watson has no clue whether they will even show his audition on television. His dream has been taken from him. Worst of all, he still doesn’t know why and maybe never will.

That’s just one strange story. I wonder if we’ll ever find out what happened with it. Why would they go through all that in the first place? If they had some top secret reason for not letting him through, why let him know? They could just let him go to Hollywood, and then be sure to cut him the first chance they got.

But they didn’t, so now Watson is getting lots of publicity from his story of acceptance and rejection. What a weird show; half of the drama and mystery is off-the-air.

UPDATE: People are assuming Akron was disinvited because of a marijuana bust a few years ago, which sounds a little strange considering their past way of dealing with that:

Akron has yet to be given a definitive reason as to why his invitation has been revoked, but American Idol insiders claim that it might have a lot to do with a pot bust on his wrap sheet. This would seem almost hypocritical since Taylor Hicks had similar problems midway through season five and was ultimately left on to later win American Idol.