Pink reader Ash gave me the head’s up that Clay Aiken posted an update on his official website in response to all the criticism that has been leveled against him after the text of his American Idol blogpost (where he lambasted both Adam Lambert and the show itself, which he only watched one time this season) made the rounds on the Internets. Aiken is under the impression that he is being maligned by sites that “picked and choosed” comments from his post in order to use his words out of context. On my blog, I reposted the entire text of his post so that readers could judge for themselves … but clearly he takes issue with other sites that did not allow his comments to be read in full. In retrospect of what he wrote, Aiken felt the need to apologize and recant from some of his previous comments … and then goes on to explain to his fans how important he believes his comments to be. Here is the full text of Clay’s latest blogpost (which he generously shares on his site for free rather than for the $29.95 cost of premium access to exclusive parts of his site):
Who knew I had so much influence and that my words and opinion mattered so much to so many people!?!?! HA HA HA I’ll be the first to admit that my opinion is just that, only my opinion, but for as much as some of the bloggers seem to dislike me and care so little about my thoughts, they sure can waste a lot of their space on what I say! If only many of them took the time to pay attention to important things like the US economy and the welfare of the world’s children. But… nah… I could blog about that type of stuff anytime and most wouldn’t think twice, but let me say something that they can pick and choose quotes and misinterpret me… and it’s showtime! I never assumed my opinion mattered so much! I guess I may have been wrong.
That said, since my previous blog got dissected like a biology lab frog, i suppose I should clarify and even retract some of what I wrote.
I am sure that some were upset by my choice of words describing my opinion of a performance I heard from Adam Lambert. I hope no one actually believed that blood truly poured forth from my ears when I heard him. I obviously meant it as a colorful statement to imply that I did not enjoy what I heard. Any performer hopes that their music will appeal to all people, but no singer realistically expects it to. God knows, I am SURE there are PLENTY of people who can’t stand to hear me sing either. I wouldn’t dream of assuming that, and I am sure that far worse things have been said about my performances than I would even venture to type here. To me, that’s fine. I don’t expect unanimous, nor even majority support for my music. But, my guess is Adam doesn’t either. I would not venture to make judgements on the personality or demeanor of anyone I don’t know, so none of what I said in my previous blog was directed as a “slam” on Adam as a person. At the same time, I wouldn’t dream of slamming him as an entertainer. He does what he does, because he enjoys it, and he obviously has many fans who enjoy it as well. If what i said in my previous blog regarding my impression of a single performance from Adam upset or offended any of his fans, I expect that the mature ones will realize that it was simply a poorly worded metaphor describing my personal tastes. The only person I would really dream of apologizing to is Adam. And the irony is, if he’s smart he couldn’t give a crap what I think of his Ring of Fire performance. As an entertainer, Adam knows that one person’s opinion of one performance really matters a little less than zero, in the grand scheme of things. He could not have gotten on Idol (nor made it as far as he did) without an immense amount of talent. He surely doesn’t need my approval to know he has a gift. At the same time, he realizes that amazing talent doesn’t always equal universal appeal. (I could NEVER have the amount of skill and talent that ballet dancers have! that’s talent! But, I don’t particularly enjoy it!) I am sure that I will have plenty of opportunities in the coming years to hear Adam sing. I imagine he’ll be around for years to come. But in the meantime, I definitely don’t want to stoop to the level of so many negative freaks on the internet… so, I do apologize to Adam for my colorful (and negative) choice of words. I hope he can forgive me. I imagine he doesn’t give a damn! :-) God knows he shouldn’t. :-)
Now, for those of you who are able to comment on this…. lets take bets as to which bits and pieces of this blog will end up mass distributed. Be creative…. they don’t seem to care about punctuation or whether or not they use all of the words in a sentence… so, have fun…. ;-)
I’m not sure what kind of criticism he got on other sites but I know my comments on his original post are still valid. He did seem really bitter about the whole American Idol process and very easily threw out his own criticisms when I’m sure he thought no one was was reading (after all, his comments were available only to members of his fan club who paid the fee to read them). It seems to me that now that he is aware that people are reading what he has to say, he’s more willing to temper his criticism of a performer (Lambert) that he only watched perform once before making his critiques. Is he allowed to do that? Of course he is … but the fact that he is a former American Idol contestant (and loser, let’s not forget) the things he says about the show are gonna be of interest to some people. Trust me Clay, you are right to say that your comments aren’t that important at all. Say what you want, whenever you want … once this AI thing dies down, folks will stop paying attention again. It is commendable that he apologized to Adam Lambert, tho. Now if he would just apologize to the rest of us who have been subjected to his singing (and have lived to regret it) we’d be all squared away.
[Source, thanks Ash]
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