I just found this ad online: “Download Sanjaya Idol Ringtones.” Jeez Louise! Can you imagine being next to someone on a subway and having THAT ring tone go off? I swear – there would be a riot.
I did some online research and went to a bunch of different sites that talk about Sanjaya Malakar and no matter what the point of view, the comments are seething! Lots of caps. “HE SUCKS! BOOOOO! GET HIM OUT OF THERE!”
So why is everyone so angry? American Idol has had less than stellar finalists before – and even a less than stellar winner or two. It’s not the first time better singers have had to wave good-bye to adoring fans of the show. This is the way American Idol works. It is, after all, a reality TV show with a high entertainment factor. And, like him or not, the whole Sanjaya story certainly has been entertaining.
People who usually wouldn’t spend time talking about reality TV shows are finding something fascinating about all this. I even heard Brian Lehrer, the erudite, insightful, delightful host of WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show discuss the issue: (scroll down to segment) Fallen Idol.
And the amount of press this has gotten would almost make me think that American Idol is helping to fan the flames. Could that be part of it? Simon wants to resign? Oh really? Because America is voting for someone who doesn’t deserve to win? It wouldn’t be the first time.
Basically, Sanjaya has been good for business – not that he intentionally chose to be the object of so much national debate and hatred. But this is a topic Americans can get their heads around – unlike the Iraq war, global warming, healthcare, and other more serious issues that in theory should be occupying our brains but are way too painful. At least we can be angry at Sanjaya and know where we stand.
Look…the kid is 17. He entered a contest. The judges and/or producers selected him to move on. He’s giving it his all. Sure he’s not the greatest – but he’s not voting for himself. So why is HE getting all the anger? You should read the comments. People are royally pissed off at him for what’s happening. (Not that I would be opposed to chipping in and getting him a good vocal coach who could teach him to “sing out Louise!”)
But all that aside…I’m actually impressed that this young kid is standing up on the stage week after week, despite the controversy, and not only delivering the best he knows how, but even having some fun – such as with his new mohawk hairstyle.
I laughed when he came on. He certainly entertained me with that. Give the kid some credit for how well he’s handling all this. I saw comments calling him “snobby” and “arrogant”. Could any of you get up there and face the ridicule each week? I know I couldn’t. I’d be a blubbering mess. There are even nasty comments about his race and Indian heritage – as if that were really any part of this. But maybe it is. I don’t know. I hope not.
What I do know is that he has become the focus of a lot of fun conversations and passion. And that does make for good entertainment. But he’s also become the focal point of intense outrage – and to me, that’s the truly fascinating part of the whole story. So what’s going on?
I realize that people are upset with what’s happening and feel frustrated that he keeps going and going – like an Energizer bunny on tranquilizers. But he’s clearly getting some real votes from fans, such as pre-teens who just think he’s cute – as evidenced by the crying girl in the audience. And he’s also getting votes from people as part of a campaign by Vote for the Worst, also spurred on by Howard Stern. But then, according to Wikipedia, Jennifer Hudson was also one of their targets. And so was Carrie Underwood.
So again…why all the anger? Is American Idol so sacred that the public vote can’t be subject to some playful shenanigans? Is last year’s winner Taylor Hicks really unimpeachable as a true Idol? (Wikipedia says Vote for the Worst also supported him.) But granted…so far Sanjaya’s performances have been fairly lackluster. And I would hope that the vote itself – with such great contestants as Melinda, Jordin, Blake, and Lakisha – will take care of the controversy by the last show.
In the meantime…enjoy the fun. But give the kid a break. He didn’t cause this. He’s just going out there each week and doing the best he can. And isn’t that the real American tradition in any contest? If you want to be angry, be angry at the people voting – not at Sanjaya Malakar.
Out of My Head 
Well written! Not that I would expect less from your sites.
American Idol may be a show about singing…..but it is also a show about the best and worst in human beings to some extent.
The kid displays class and courage. Where is the argument with that?
I find it is easier to throw stones when we have never stood in the other’s shows, and yes, that includes the fortitude of this young man, who quite frankly, what’s the worse you can say? The earlier clips showed an adoring father and a sister he is apparently close to? He’s got guts?
What’s wrong with the world that to disparage him has become sport?
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Brava, SurfaceEarth. You said that beautifully.
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The problem is that much better singers are being voted off, and that’s not fair to them.
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I agree, Valerie. No one feels good about seeing some of the very talented people booted. But that’s how the show works. It’s happened before. My main point is…it’s not Sanjaya’s fault. He’s really doing his best – even if it falls far short. Even if he deserves to be voted off. But a lot of the anger I’m reading on blogs is directed at him. He’s not the one voting for him. Would anyone really expect him to just step up and say “Don’t vote for me!” His job is to keep doing what all the contestants are doing – competing to win.
If he is where he doesn’t belong, blame the people voting, not him. How many of us could stand this kind of pressure at age 17 and still keep smiling? When you come down to it, the American Idol format allows for this very thing. If something isn’t working, Sanjaya can’t fix it. But maybe the show’s producers will have to – next season. And by speaking up you the public can tell them that. I just feel bad that Sanjaya is bearing the brunt of the anger.
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Its all about the race of that guy. Its all around us..no matter how liberal or democratic we pretend, we don’t like intruders(!!) taking away our glories. Thats what we were and we are. Just check the history and learn the truth about ourselves.
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beautifully written ronnie. i have to admit that i’ve never watched american idol, it’s really not my cup of tea. but i have been keeping up with the sanjaya saga. sanjaya is having the time of his life! why take that away from him, i mean after all he’s not the one who’s doing the voting. let him enjoy his 15 minutes of fame. quite frankly, if you don’t like what’s going on with the show, don’t watch it, it’s as simple as that.
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I like also what Judy said: if you don’t like what’s going on with the show, don’t watch it.
Curious as to why instead of moving away from stuff we don’t like, habit keeps us sticking around and disparaging others.
Sigh.
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The word from my husband, who is an avid Howard Stern fan, is that Stern has suggested that his fans vote for the obnoxious Sanjaya and somehow mess up everybody’s minds……..sigh……..sigh
My biggest question is….Why do people listen to H.S. or watch American Idol?
What do these people have to do with real life anyway?
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A good question. Why do lemmings march to the sea?
I now for the first time publicly admit I once worked for Howard Stern’s agent and have a remnant warm spot for Howard (he was so sweet in person) despite all his shenanigans. I’m not apologizing for him in any way, but basically his persona represents the adolescent boy who likes to be bad. Sigh. Oh Howard…you are being bad again!
Hopefully the rest of the voting public will vote for the real talent.
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What is it about “American Idol” that brings out the bloodsucking worst in some of us? That instinct to pummel the downtrodden, the weakest, the appointed loser? It’s the “Idol” blood-in-the-water syndrome. Some of us smell blood. Some of us turn into sharks. (Some of us – heaven forbid – even turn into Simon.)
Of thee we speak, Sanjaya.
Every season, there is someone from the top 12 who must absorb the body blows from the “Idol Nation.” This season, it is the burden of one Sanjaya Malakar, 17 years old, from Federal Way, Wash. – he with the hair, and the hula, and the smile so wide and so preternaturally bright. Turn anywhere – to any paper, radio station, Web site or TV channel – and the water is chummed, boiling with sharks.
Here’s just the briefest sampling from the chattering classes. “Hair today, gone tomorrow,” one paper said.
“Let Sanjaya go, America,” another begged. “Let Sanjaya go.”
“People are baffled by Sanajaya,” said the voice-over on an ABC News report.
One of the deepest cuts came from another paper, referring to him as “Sanjaya ‘Leif Garrett’ Malakar.”
The feeding frenzy has even reached distant shores. Over the weekend, the Philippine Daily Inquirer almost kindly referred to one “inexperienced and relatively phlegmatic Sanjaya.”
So today, something radically different: A fresh appraisal. I’m going to vote for Sanjaya tonight and not because votefortheworst.com told me to. Even if – or when – he butchers his song, I’m going to vote for him because he’s got heart – and courage and moxie and class. Whether we’re willing to admit it or not, he’s got talent, too. I’m going to vote for him because when I was 17, I barely even made it to class, much less subject myself to the abuse of an abuse-happy Idol Nation.
Tuesday at 8 on Fox, the professional bloodsucker himself – a TV critic – gives back. (Not to fear – he won’t make a habit of it.)
Last week’s performance of the great Diana Ross (and Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell) hit, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” was not good. We can all agree on that. “When you hear a wail in Beverly Hills,” Simon said, “that is where Diana Ross is watching this show.”That’s almost certainly hyperbole. She probably wept, though. She’ll get over it. So will we.
One of the few other people in this Idol Nation who actually supports Sanjaya is a nice lady by the name of Lynne Stevens, who lives up in snow-belt country outside Buffalo.
“Melinda Doolittle is wonderful, but she’s 29, and he’s 17,” Stevens says. “That’s 12 years’ difference. That’s a lifetime. … He hasn’t got the emotional experience to put in his songs.
“Sanjaya,” she continues, “probably came from a regular high school, and you can’t imagine the culture shock when you get to L.A. . It’s a machine. You are going 18 hours a day, all day long, and you don’t even have time to think [plus], you’re doing three hours of school – and that’s three hours that you don’t focus on music or presentation. My son always worried about his grades.”
Her son is John Stevens – at 16 the youngest “Idol” contestant ever who made it to the top six in the third season and endured Idol Nation abuse the whole way.
“It was definitely the best experience of my life [and], there were definitely weeks when I couldn’t handle it,” says John, now in his second year at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and studying jazz vocals.
During the finals, Stevens remembers coming down each morning with the channel turned to Fox News while hosts would be talking about “what they thought of last night’s show and who would be kicked off. They’d always talk about how well I was dressed, but that I couldn’t sing and should have been gone two weeks ago. It was definitely hard to take – people you don’t know bashing you and talking about you as though they know you.”
What he learned (the hard way) is that “you can’t change yourself to fit other people’s expectations. You have to be yourself all the time.”
Good advice for Sanjaya, and here’s some more: Ignore the sharks. Go out there and prove them all wrong.
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Wow! Great comment, DesiGuy! I have seen such ugly – and even racist – comments that it makes me wonder how quickly we can see the despised enemy in someone we don’t even know. Even this kid. Thanks for the words from Lynne Stevens, who really knows what it’s like.
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I agree, Ronnie, great comment from DesiGuy. I couldn’t help but see how race played into this Sanjaya-bashing. Were viewers this hostile toward John Stevens and Kevin Covais, also young and still in high school? I am an avid AI viewer (yes, I admit it), so can tell you honestly, viewers were not.
I actually think Sanjaya is just as talented as John and Kevin, but like them is probably dealing with nerves and the stress of weekly performances. Frankly, I am more upset about how girls who are very cute but only so-so vocalists made it into the top 24 and then the top 12.
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Good points, Mel. Although I won’t even justify the prejudice by repeating what I’ve seen, people are posting comments that smack of racism. One even misidentified Sanjaya’s background and then bashed him based on the erroneous assumption. It’s all so sad.
Something is happening that’s different from what we expected – or might want. But hate is never the answer. And once again, Sanjaya didn’t cause any of this. He is just coping the best he can. The strength that he’s showing tells me that potentially he has a very successful career ahead of him – although maybe not as a pop singer per se. (-;
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Tony Bennet’s been around the block and thinks the kid has courage….you know what, works for me.
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