Idol: A Good Cause Gone Bad
I hope you didn't waste 120 minutes of your life watching last night's episode of American Idol. Or more importantly, I hope you didn't cough up a portion of your hard-earned paycheck to vote for your favorite Idol under false pretenses it would keep him/her safe. At the end of the show, the "biggest shock" was to reveal they couldn't kick anyone off during "charity week" so the votes from this week will be added to next week when two contestants will get the boot. Granted, they raised $30 million for charity due to the 70 million votes they received. But why lie to viewers by not telling them beforehand??
While Ellen DeGeneres' $100,000 contribution is admirable, did the judges match her generosity? It seemed rather disingenous to watch filthy-rich millionaires, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest, exploit the misfortune of a young, African boy to encourage viewers to make a charitable donation. Undeniably, poverty awareness is important, and for that, the show deserves credit. However, the least they could have done was solicit donations in a sincere way, such as informing viewers no one was leaving this week, but their votes would still be going toward a good cause.
