Free Republic

“American Idol” producers have apparently warned Colton Dixon if he doesn’t tone down his overtly Christian act, he won’t have a prayer of winning the reality competition. The 20-year-old devout Christian, though, told Today.com that he answers to a higher authority than voting viewers. “When we first started the Twitter and Facebook stuff, they said beware of political and religious tweets,” Dixon told the site. “Just because it can turn off voters or whatever. But, you know, being a Christian is who I am. It is a part of me musically. It is what I want to do after the...

This week, "American Idol" kicked off its 11th season, and it appears even President Obama is getting into the spirit. On Thursday night at a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater, the commander in chief surprised a star-studded Harlem, New York, crowd by busting out a few measures of "AI" staple Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."

She used to hide her Caribbean accent - Viewers were shocked on the top nine show when this soft-spoken singer out of nowhere morphed into a totally different person.... She was denied an "X Factor" fast-pass - Not only did Melanie almost get sent home before the live shows, she almost didn't make it to her audition at all. "I wanted to get a Fast Pass at the local Fox news in Florida, and they told me, 'No, we didn't enjoy you very much,'" she says, incredibly. "So I waited in line with all the thousands of people." Guess it...

Scotty McCreery has been very vocal about his Christian faith since the beginning of “American Idol,” so why not manifest it in his upcoming debut album? The young country artist revealed in an interview this week that he hopes to follow in Josh Turner’s footsteps and include at least one Christian song in his upcoming album. “One thing I love about Josh Turner is his faith, that’s why I looked up to him so much,” he told The Boot. The 17-year-old North Carolina native continued, "All the albums he's had have had at least one Christian song, like 'The Answer'...

Country won. Honesty won. Decency won. And good ol' American values won. They beat hypocrisy and hyperbole, snark and snicker, and the jaw-dropping arrogance of the experts and elites. No, I'm not talking about the Republican sweep of the House last year. Rather, I'm talking about last week's American Idol, where viewers disregarded the exhortations of entertainment and media elites and chose instead down-home over Hollywood, and country over anything and everything our cultural elites pushed at them. It became clear as the confetti rained down on this year's American Idol -- a teenager with white picket fence sensibilities and...

It's probably going to take more than a sore throat to stop Lauren Alaina. A report that the 16-year-old may not be able to sing in the American Idol finals tonight, thereby paving the way for Haley Reinhart's return, is "highly exaggerated," a show source assures E! News. But, alas, they're not out of the woods yet. Haley is standing by, just in case Lauren can't go on, an insider tells us. The finalists are supposed to sing three songs tonight, but she struggled through her second number during rehearsal and was unable to practice her third. The source says...

Remember how Steven Tyler has been saying that Aerosmith would perform with James Durbin at the Idol finale? Well it looks like he's the only band member who wants to do that. The Boston Herald reports that the other members of Aerosmith don't want to do it because they'd rather wait to promote something for their band. Besides, the last time we saw Joe Perry was when he played with Sanjaya at the season 6 finale. How could you possibly top that? (Answer: You can't)

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, N.Y. (PIX11)— Administrators at Brooklyn Academy High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant canceled Friday's talent show in the wake of a all-girl gang assault on one of the student contestants, PIX 11 has learned. According to authorities, 17-year-old Shacara McLaurin was brutally attacked by at least five other students on April 1st, one of them hitting her in the face with a padlock wrapped in a sock. "Yo, b--ch, I got a lock," one of the teen suspects allegedly shouted, as she pummeled McLaurin with the weapon. "I wasn't able to open my jaw. I wasn't able to talk. I...

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is tied for first in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, according to a new poll of Republicans. Nineteen percent of Republicans named Trump, who is flirting with a run for the party's presidential nomination, as their top choice for the nomination, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Tuesday. Another 13 percent said Trump was their second choice in a nominee. SNIP Trump scored 10 percent in last month's CNN poll, meaning he effectively doubled his support over the course of a month.

Well, if you’re reading about “American Idol” tonight the comments on Twitter, Facebook and just about anywhere you look aren’t pretty. Some fans are vowing to never watch again and the curse words are flying. That’s because we might have witnessed one of the biggest upsets in the show’s history. Idol darling Pia Toscano was sent home tonight. The judges looked furious and the sobs were pouring out for this New York contestant. Even the guys on stage looked like they were teary-eyed and everyone look shocked. Maybe the judges were part of the problem. They have been sugar-coating all...

In Memory of Bahbah and Carolinamom

Police: Man Held 2 At Knifepoint Over 'American Idol' Hotel Guest Wanted Co-Workers To Change Channel POSTED: Thursday, March 10, 2011 UPDATED: 1:17 pm EST March 10, 2011 Jacksonville Sheriff's Office booking photo of Barran Prakash JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A hotel guest held two co-workers who he was staying with at knifepoint when they refused to change the TV channel to "American Idol," Neptune Beach police said. Barran Prakash, 47, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was talking to his wife on the phone while he was preparing a meal when his wife told him the show was on TV, according to police....

For those of you who watched IDOL this evening,were you shocked on who the final ten were?,and then even more shocked on who were picked for the three wild card spots? It was bad enough that two of the best female singers didn't make the top then,and then to add insult to injury,Randy,Jenifer&Steve chose the two black female singers of whom were the least impressive of the six wild card contestants. It was so obvious that the judges were more concerned that they would of been declared racists if they didn't have at least one black female singer amongst the...

A young, single New Orleans mom Paris Tassin wows the judges with her singing. She wows me with her story of a daughter she was urged not to have. Video at link

I’ve not followed the life and times of Fantasia Barrino, American Idol’s 2004 Season 3 winner. But when I read the tragic revelation last week that Fantasia attempted to kill herself in August following an abortion, I brought myself up to speed. Little did LifeNews.com know the backstory when originally reporting Fantasia’s suicide attempt, particularly when writing she “once chose life – when faced with an unexpected pregnancy.” That was in 2001, when Fantasia, a 17-yr-old unmarried high school drop out, gave birth to daughter Zion (pictured, left, with Fantasia last week). Nine years later, at the height of fame...

Governor Palin’s book America by Heart is set to be released this coming Tuesday. As with every book, advanced copies are released to the press for reviewing purposes only. Those advanced copies usually come with conditions attached which include not disclosing any part of the book until a certain agreed date. It appears that some in the media have lost all of their integrity and no longer have any respect for the law and have decided to release parts of the book to no others than to sites trashing Governor Palin. So out of a 304 page book, those Palin...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's last-minute efforts to get Democratic voters to the polls include an interview with Ryan Seacrest. Yes, that Ryan Seacrest, host of "American Idol." The interview will air Tuesday on Seacrest's nationally syndicated radio show. Obama is also taping interviews Monday with local radio hosts in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Honolulu and Miami. Those interviews will air on Election Day. Though Obama has no public campaign schedule between ahead of Tuesday's elections, White House officials believe he can reach his party's base from the White House. Obama is also holding conference calls Monday night with campaign volunteers...

Over the past few years, I have often complained about a hidebound culture that prevents many newspapers from responding to the challenges of new technology. There is, however, another hidebound American institution that is also finding it difficult to respond to new challenges: our big-city schools. Today, for example, the United States is home to more than 2,000 dysfunctional high schools. They represent less than 15% of American high schools yet account for about half of our dropouts. When you break this down, you find that these institutions produce 81% of all Native American dropouts, 73% of all African-American dropouts,...