"American Idol" and controversy go together like Simon Cowell and high-waisted trousers, so it’s no shock that the mega-popular show is hitting the headlines again for all the wrong reasons.
"Idol" fans are fuming at contestant Chris Daughtry for trying to pass-off a version of Johnny Cash’s "I Walk The Line" as his own.
His slow, emotional version of the Cash classic won over the show’s judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, who praised Chris for his originality and making the song his own, on Tuesday night.
Puzzled fans hit message boards after the show to find out where they’d heard the familiar-sounding rendition from, as it definitely wasn’t from the Joaquin Phoenix-starring biopic.
Eventually, it emerged that 26-year-old Chris’ ‘original’ version was actually a rip-off of Live’s cover version of “I Walk The Line” from 2001.
Venom the fans have been spitting includes: "This guy is a rip off," and "Live singer Ed Kowalczyk called and said that he would like his vocal style" back.
But Chris fans have speculated that he did mention Live in his pre-show interview but it was edited out.
Jacob Clifton, who covers "Idol" for TelevisionWithoutPity.com, has said the show’s judges and producers should be blamed. "I think it's more a sign of the judges being out of touch or the show's producers deliberately trying to fool the public."
"The fact is, Chris should not be blamed for using the arrangements that he does."
But others have joined the debate, attacking Chris for letting the judges believe it was his own version. "He definitely should not have taken credit for the arrangement or allowed people to praise his originality," David Bloomberg, editor of RealityNewsOnline.com, says.
"He stood onstage and let the judges talk about how he made it his own when he really did nothing of the sort."
Comments
I absolutely can't believe that so many people misunderstood what the judges were saying to Chris. They obviously did not think that that song was his own. They praised him for his originality and being creative...but no where said that he wrote that song. I find it appalling that so many people don't use their minds when it comes to things like this. If you just take a little time to listen and process what you hear you might not get your information twisted!
Posted by: jennifer | April 13, 2006 10:50 PM
Ya...if you actually watched the show you would have actually heard Chris say that he was singing the version recorded by Live....so how did he try to pretend it was his own again????
Posted by: Daisy | May 11, 2006 3:14 AM
Chris is the best performer AI has ever had. He said both nights that it was a live version and the reason the judges applauded him was because it was 50's week and chris found a way to get a modern rock version on the stage. He did it better than Live does anyways
Posted by: Rag | May 23, 2006 7:27 PM