‘American Idol’: Quentin Alexander Goes Home After Harry Connick Jr. Incident
American Idol revealed the top five Wednesday night, and Quentin Alexander was not one of them. He was pitted against Rayvon Owen — a veteran of the bottom two spot — to sing for the instant save.
Rayvon has survived on the Twitter save four weeks in a row. However, it was Quentin’s first time falling into the bottom. He seemed to be a frontrunner, until an incident last week surrounded him in controversy. The Idol hopeful shared a burst of emotion on-stage that was misunderstood by some — including judge Harry Connick Jr. — as being “disrespectful.”
While Quentin assured the judges and viewers he “meant no disrespect,” he gave no apology for sharing his raw emotion. Following the misunderstanding, he told People he was just being honest when Ryan Seacrest asked him how he was feeling after his performance. When he blurted out the situation was “wack,” he was referring to the fact that his best friend, Joey and Rayvon, were in the bottom. He said he felt “very uncomfortable” that he was voted through while Joey faced elimination.
“In that moment, I was just being honest. I felt genuine emotion, and it came out.”
He went on to explain life isn’t always perfect and if you ask him a question, you’re going to get the honest answer.
“This is a reality-TV show. People watch for the reality of it, and there are moments where life is not all rainbows and kittens. We all just have to remember to be honest with ourselves. And in that moment, I was being honest.”
The 21-year-old may have thought the ordeal was somewhat behind him, but the hits just kept coming during Wednesday night’s top 5 reveal. As reported by the Inquisitr, American Idol ran a promo rehashing an edited version of the confrontation prior to the show. Obviously, this further put Quentin in poor light by continuing to remind viewers what had happened. Yahoo Music points out, that was just the beginning.
After Rayvon’s first performance, the show went to commercial break prior to the judges’ comments. When they went back live, his performance was replayed, which was a first for the season. Each of Quentin’s performances were shown only once.
Also, Harry Connick Jr. asked each contestant a question in lieu of a critique. Instead of his usual harping on Quentin’s supposed “pitch problem” outright, he implied it by asking him if he would allow the use of Auto-Tune in the studio. Quentin did not seem fazed by the question and explained why he would not.
“I would not, just because I feel that the type of music I want to do, the type of art that I want to make, is all me in my raw element. So if I make a mistake, I want to people to hear that mistake.”
As if all this wasn’t enough to ensure Quentin would not be on the Idol Tour, Ryan Seacrest commented that Quentin was chanting, “I give up” after Rayvon’s final performance — just before the Twitter voting went live. Quentin was visibly shocked, and quickly clarified he was saying, “I give it up” as a compliment to Rayvon’s performance.
Despite Jennifer Lopez claiming if she goes to a concert she wants to see someone like him, and Keith Urban calling him the “anti-plankton,” because he doesn’t swim with the current — Quentin Alexander’s American Idol run is over. Hopefully, he is getting to share some quality time with his BFF, Joey Cook.
Do you think Quentin deserved to go home? Do you feel his emotional outburst was disrespectful or misunderstood?
[Image by American Idol/Fox]
