Idolize

I hear that American Idol has its first scandal of the season. One of the contestants might have some nude pictures in her past. A spokesman for the show says that producers thorougly screen the wannabes. Of course they do. They NEED controversy as much as they need Simon Cowell telling people how awful they are. So at least one person's past will rear up to haunt them during the course of the season by design. Write it in ink.

I don't watch the show. If I want to see a karaoke contest, there's a bar near me that sometimes draws people who sing just as well. Too bad they're obese or they might get invited onto the show to prove it. And here I don't just have to watch, I can get up on stage and sing then come back to my seat to resume my snarky commentary on others' efforts. Or their physiques if I have to resort to that. I know. I know. Fat is not a crime. Not a felony anyway.

So I have no idea who will win Idol and even less interest. The reason I mention it is the apparent source of this year's dust-up: Naked pictures. And my question about it: Why? What's the crisis? Why should someone be disqualified from a televised karaoke contest because she once posed topless? Can we de-stigmatize that?