things kevin hates

Democracy may be the best political system we have, but the notion of majority rule has often failed miserably when applied to various other subjects—for example, reality TV. With American Idol kicking off its new season this week, I’d like to look back at the travesty that was last year’s voting. How on earth did Adam Lambert lose?

The first great outrage occurred when Allison Iraheta failed to make it to the final. She burst on the scene with this performance in the round of 36:

How did she not make the final? WTF, America?

That miscarriage of justice was bad enough. Yet the American populace sank to even more horrible depths when it came down to the final two: the pleasant, competent, but somewhat bland Kris Allen versus Adam Lambert, a man whose incredibly gifted vocal pyrotechnics were matched only by his usually outrageous appearance. I don’t mean this essay to be a diatribe against Kris Allen. He was never one of my early favorites—I started the season thinking Adam, Allison, Lil, and Alexis were the front-runners, although the performances of the latter two turned out to be very disappointing. But Kris came on strong and was one of the few contestants who got better as the competition went on. He had quite a few very solid performances, but his talent paled in comparison to Adam’s, and Kris even admitted as much, saying Adam deserved to win. Adam’s talent is mindblowing, and perhaps his best performance was this:

.

And yet, even though Adam obviously deserved to win, he didn’t. Commentators have often examined the show and its popularity in terms of a red state/blue state divide, or in terms of a Christian/secular divide or a Southern/non-Southern one. When a red-state inhabitant or a Christian or a Southerner goes up against someone from the other categories in the finale, he or she usually wins. And with the down-home church-going guitar-playing country boy from a small city in Arkansas going up against the flaming, screamingly homosexual Californian Jew, the result should have been no surprise. Kris Allen certainly had his share of genuine fans, and I’ll certainly admit that I can see how Adam’s over-the-top voice might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I can’t help but feel that had Adam not been so obviously gay the result might have been different. Is everyone who prefers Kris Allen a homophobe? No, of course not. But I find it hard to believe that it wasn’t a huge factor for many people. Many were turned off by Adam’s almost always outrageous appearance and ignored his talent, much to the chagrin of those of us who’d rather see the more talented person win.