‘Idol’ special offered a lot of nothing

As that quotation shows, Corey Clark is possibly the worst spokesperson imaginable to level these sorts of charges. Clarkis so inarticulate that John Quiñones had to ask leading questions just to get him to give “yeah” and “right” responses. Clark couldn’t even defend his own credibility, saying, “at the end of the day, like I said before, I’m not here to try to prove my case one way or the other, I’m just here to let people know what was going down on my side of the fence.”

Asked to describe the most salacious part of his claims, his physical relationship with Abdul, Clark said, “It was dope, I was like, wow. ... She came up behind me and she just started kissing my neck, and, you know, that’s the first night that we had ever been together, you know what I’m saying?”

Actually, no, we don’t. But at least if the singing thing falls through, Clark can always turn to writing romance novels, because he sure can craft a captivating, erotic tale.

FOX can and has dismissed Clark’s charges because of his past behavior (The Smoking Gun revealed that he’d been charged with “battery on four law enforcement officers, battery on his sister, and endangering a child,” and those revelations led to his removal from the show.) Although his past doesn’t disprove any of his claims, it’s suspicious that he’s popping up now, two years later, when he’s shopping a memoir and working on an album.

Primetime Live spent much of its hour helping to promote that forthcoming CD, despite Quiñones’ stated skepticism about Clark's motives. If ABC News was really concerned about his motives, they wouldn’t have interspersed evidence of these allegations with clips of Clark whoring his new record, which seems to be entirely focused on his affair with Abdul.

From what the special showed, the record shows that Clark isn’t quite over Abdul now, more than two years later. One song is actually named “Paula-tics” (although the exact spelling is unclear), some lyrics tell the story of Clark's relationship with her, and one song actually includes the familiar phrase “straight up.” All that’s left is for Clark to shoot a video dancing with MC Skat Kat.

‘Idol’ needs to be more transparent
Since its early days, “American Idol” has been dogged by rumors and scandal. The series has nothing to blame except itself.

The most popular reality TV show in the country pretends it is one thing (wholesome family entertainment and a talent contest that lets people realize their dreams) when it’s actually the opposite (an often cruel exercise that’s concerned only with selling ads and records and discards dreams without flinching). For a show that relentlessly tortures its contestants with glee, it’s no surprise that some people would like to see the show’s glossy veneer crack.

The series’ complete lack of transparency has fueled every conceivable conspiracy theory; anyone with a puzzle piece thinks theirs fits perfectly because Idol's pieces are invisible. Vote totals and percentages aren’t released; auditions are orchestrated to ensure drama and good television; the only things we see behind-the-scenes are stiff segments with Ryan Seacrest or heavily produced commercials for the shows sponsors; the screaming sycophantic audience would boo Simon Cowell if he said it was raining outside, especially if it was pouring.

Whether or not anything comes of Corey Clark's claims, that Paula Abdul is the target of the most significant scandal to date is quite fitting. Abdul offers expressive comments that are substanceless, and now she’s the target of substantive claims that have been delivered inarticulately. If they don’t stick, we may never know if it was the message or the messenger.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.

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