Paula Abdul
News (Page 4)

Maybe this will help people shed the image of Paula Abdul drunk:

The loopy, fun-loving American Idol judge will be hosting a star-studded benefit concert for the organization In Defense of Animals on Saturday, February 17. The event, which will raise money for animals affected by Hurricane Katrina, is scheduled to take place at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

Tickets for the event cost $275 per person. The $1,000 "Dinner Package" includes two VIP concert tickets, seating, and VIP Sponsor Celebrity Reception.

Meanwhile, there's no truth to the rumor that Abdul's friend and foe, Simon Cowell, is included among the list of animals.

Forget Paula Abdul drunk for a minute.

Let's focus on Paula Abdul, Woman of the Year instead.

Indeed, American Idol descended on Las Vegas on Saturday to honor Abdul as she was named woman of the year by the Nevada Ballet Theatre. And she tried a little comedy on for size during her acceptance speech.

Paula poked fun at a bizarre pre-Idol interview with a local Seattle TV station earlier in the month.

"Don't ever give a swivel stool to someone who's very hyper and active because I will spin and spin and spin."

And who knew she was a master of sarcasm?

"I couldn't do it without the three men in my life," she said of fellow Idol stars Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest, who flanked her.

"Every time Randy Jackson opens up his mouth, I look like a Nobel Prize winner. Every time Simon Cowell opens his mouth, Borat sounds like a Nobel Prize winner... Ryan, I really do love him; almost as much as he loves himself. These three brothers are the best thing a girl can hope for, just ask my therapists."

Are American Idol auditions judged too meanly this season? It's been a common source of contention.

TV critic, Dalton Ross, of Entertainment Weekly, however, doesn't blame Simon, Randy or Paula. He actually says they've been nicer than ever on some occasions. Check out what else he recently wrote:

Another season of American Idol auditions means another season filled with incompetent singers cluelessly showcasing their wares for an entire country.

But this year, something seems different. According to everything I've read and everyone I talk to, the judges of American Idol have suddenly gotten a lot meaner, lighting into contestants like never before. Frankly, this is hogwash.

Go back and watch season one - Simon was just as rude and crude as he is now. I don't see any difference there at all. That's not to imply that this season of Idol has not been meaner than past ones; it's just that the judges are not the ones to blame. The producers are.

Remember, it's not Simon, Randy, and Paula weeding out who makes it onto TV from the tens of thousands of applicants. The producers take care of that. They are the ones that pick out the people who make it before the holy trinity. Their job basically seems to consist of sorting stadiums full of auditioners into three groups, which are:

Group 1: The Really, Really Good
These people have genuine talent and are sent in to Simon, Randy, and Paula to see if they are worthy of being addressed as ''dawg'' and sent to Hollywood. We'd count Sundance Head, Sarah Krueger and Kia Thorton in this group.

Group 2: The Really, Really Bad
These people have no talent whatsoever, yet are also sent in to Simon, Randy, and Paula as a form of comic relief. Their badness dominates the first few weeks of the show and enables us, the viewers, to feel better about ourselves through the mocking of others.

Group 3: Everyone else
Most people fall into this category — the mild, the mediocre, the middle-of-the-road. These people are dismissed on the spot since they are neither good enough to stand a chance at winning, nor bad enough to provide any good laughs.

Where this season's Idol differs from previous ones is that the people in Group 2 have gone from ''really, really bad'' to really, really sad. Some of the contestants being brought in front of the judges (and, in turn, a national audience) are clearly in need of help — and I'm not talking about vocal training.

Nicholas Zitzman went beyond merely socially awkward, and there was something vaguely non-human about Darwin ''Mischa'' Reedy and her practically identical mother. But the show sunk to a new low with another debatably dynamic duo: Jonathan Jayne and Kenneth Briggs.

Kenneth was the guy Simon compared to a monkey, calling the bug-eyed contestant a ''bush baby.'' Some saw that as unnecessarily harsh, but Simon has never pulled any punches in his commentary on contestants' looks. This is nothing new, and he has actually uttered comments much worse than that.

What made this situation different was the fact that Kenneth was even in the room to begin with, seeing as how he didn't — and I'm trying to be gentle here — appear to possess the highest IQ.

Which brings us to Jonathan Jayne. Jayne is a perfect example as to exactly why the judges are not to blame. For those who don't remember, Jonathan was the large guy who crooned ''God Bless America.'' Turns out he is a former Special Olympics participant.

Paula was typically kind after his somewhat excruciating performance, but it should be noted that Simon was as well, even saying ''You're a nice guy. I like you, but this is not the career path for you.'' Randy then thanked him for showing up. So why again are the judges under fire? Heck, even Special Olympics International praised them for being ''gracious and very encouraging.''

Yet the judges are still catching the heat, when it was the field producers who put Jayne in the room to begin with. If it was to see him mocked, then they are evil. If it was to chalk up an easy and compassionate story line, then they are merely shamelessly exploitative. Either way, it's pretty classless.

Now, let's move on before I emotionally shut down over the realization that I just wasted almost 700 words defending Paula freakin' Abdul.

The following numbers and results are based on information courtesy of LYCOS, Incc, a leading community destination for broadband entertainment content.

Not surprisingly, Internet users are once again hooked on American Idol - searches for the show are up 480% in interest this week.

A bit unexpected, however, is the fact that Paula Abdul is the most searched for judge - by far - across engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Specifically, people wish to know about "Paula Abdul drunk," as 20% of queries regarding this occasionally slurred singer involve those words.

Meanwhile, searches for Simon Cowell have risen 90% this week; and those tracking down "American Idol auditions" have also done so at a more frequent pace than prior weeks.

As the weeks go by, it's safe to assume individual contestants who impress viewers will grow in popularity. Two that standout after last night would be Melinda Doolittle and Sundance Head.

We've all seen the interview footage at this point - as well as watched her during American Idol auditions.

But now Paula Abdul is sticking up for her sober self. She held a press conference Saturday to explain recent, odd behavior.

“I’ve never been drunk,” she told television journalists at the panel discussion in Pasadena, California. “I’m not under the influence of anything.

The 44-year-old American Idol judge has given several recent television interviews in which she exhibited slurred speech and even appeared to fall asleep mid-questioning.

The issue isn't new.

On an episode of American Idol last March, when asked about one contestant’s elimination, she responded randomly with: “Simon says because one of them ate pizza and the other one ate salad.”

During the same broadcast, she uttered a mixed metaphor involving a moth and a melon, prompting fellow judge Randy Jackson to ask what she had been drinking.

While Abdul said it’s in her nature to make fun of herself, she assured reporters that she takes her position as a public figure seriously.

“I’m doing my job and having fun,” she said. “Although I might not take myself seriously, there are young girls watching me, and I know I’m a role model. I’ve been a teacher, and the fact that some of them would look up to me and want to be the next choreographer or the next singer, I would not violate that trust.”

The Fox TV network chief on Saturday dismissed talk of unusual cruelty by the judges on American Idol this year, saying he's heard from people who think the show has actually been toned down.

"The judges and their scrutiny, I think, are a big part of what makes American Idol American Idol,'" Peter Liguori, Fox entertainment president, told reporters after coming under scrutiny.

The talent show and cultural phenomenon returned with a vengeance this past week, with episodes on Tuesday and Wednesday attracting around 37 million viewers. The episodes featured auditions by the good, the bad and the awful from Minneapolis and Seattle.

But some questioned whether the judges have been over the top this season in their sometimes harsh critiques of prospective Idols.

Simon Cowell, whose reputation for blunt, nasty put-downs was established at the series' beginning, was in peak form, telling one contestant that his singing was horrendous and he looked like a "bush baby."

Cowell's counterpart, Randy Jackson, told one contestant his audition was awful and perhaps ruined his business.

"You shouldn't be a vocal teacher. I wouldn't take vocal lessons from you, I wouldn't tell anybody to take vocal lessons from you," Jackson said.

On ABC's The View this past week, Rosie O'Donnell - always looking to stir things up, be it with Donald Trump or pretty much anyone else - lashed out at the way contestants were treated by the judges, who she termed "three millionaires, one probably intoxicated."

"If you keep serving people crap and telling them it's a meal, they're eventually going to think it is a meal," O'Donnell jabbed.

Fox's Liguori said the judges know what makes American Idol and that this is just the continuation of a successful formula.

"Let's face it, the show has been on the air six years, the judges have been critical for six years," he said.

The judges' harsh assessments also were defended by Geffen Records chairman Ron Fair, who is about to take on a Simon Cowell-like role on an upcoming Pussycat Dolls reality show for the CW network, "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll."

"In order to have a reputation and continue in a healthy manner in this business, you have to tell people 'no' all day long," he said.

"I'm telling people 'I'm not going to sign you, that song is not a hit' ... And there's no gracious or wonderful way to tell somebody, whose hopes and dreams are on the line: 'no.'"

By now, you've probably seen or heard about the recent Paula Abdul interview, during which the American Idol judge seemed rather out of it.

FOX has released the following statement regarding the incident;

"All of us at Fox have tremendous respect and admiration for Paula Abdul. She is a consummate professional who always gives 100% to everything she does. Last week, during a satellite press tour there were intermittent technical difficulties, including severe audio issues in which multiple stations were speaking to her at once.

"Rather than getting angry about these difficulties, or stopping the tour, Paula forged ahead and decided to have fun with the increasingly challenging situation. Unfortunately, because reporters and viewers were unaware of the situation, her humor was misconstrued."

Could this crazy behavior have been a PR stunt?

Its seems like a possibility now that the announcement has been made of a reality show starring Paula Abdul. The former dancer has agreed to a deal with bosses at Bravo to turn her life into a new series.

The unnamed show will focus on Abdul's work on American Idol as well as her private life, along with her new role as executive producer of the new film Bratz: The Movie - based on the popular dolls for kids.

"I'm excited to open the doors to Bravo and have all my fans see the other sides to me, beyond what they see on American Idol," said Abdul.

We can't even venture a guess as to what was wrong with Paula Abdul in this clip. We hope she's okay.

But it's worth taking a look at how she answers questions about recent American Idol auditions in Seattle:

Maybe Simon Cowell isn't the meanest person in the world.

After all, fellow judge Paula Abdul says that she might have been fired from American Idol if Cowell hadn't come to her rescue.

In today's New York Post, Paula says that when allegations surfaced that she'd had an inappropriate affair with Corey Clark during Idol's second season, it was Cowell who ultimately stepped up for her.

"He was extremely distraught and protective and supportive of me when that happened," says Abdul. "There's the times when he's like a big brother – or a lover."

Of course, as Americal Idol fans know well, Paula also said it's not all wine and roses with Cowell:

"When he's just annoyed, I get the brunt of it."

But, wait a minute, did she say lover?!?