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David Hernandez Comes To Access
If you happened to catch David Hernandez's performance on our show last night (or, you can watch it HERE -- then you know that his elimination from "American Idol" was unjust. The boy can sing. Last season, when we had the Top 12 perform on our stage, many times I would snicker to myself or gossip with others about how bad several of them actually sounded. This was not the case. He sounded every bit as good singing "Midnight Hour" as he did during Hollywood week.
So, why was he eliminated? He wasn't at his best when he performed on Tuesday's nights 'Idol,' but it was certainly nowhere near as bad as Kristy Lee Cook or Syesha Mercado, who found themselves in the bottom three with him. My guess is he got caught up in the popularity contest aspect of this show. His stripper scandal, unfortunately, made him a bulls eye. I spoke to many people last week who told me they would not vote for David because of it, especially since he never mentioned one word about it when he spoke about what he was doing before "American Idol" during the show's taped segment on him. Most people thought he should have copped to it and then moved on. The honesty would have done wonders for him.
Ironically, it was after he was voted off that David lightened up about the whole scandal. When I spoke with him at the Top 12 party he was obviously nervous, agitated, and from what I saw… slightly embarrassed to go in front of the press corp. We were told we could ask one question of him about StripperGate. He had rehearsed his answer and, from what I could tell, it was the same answer he gave to every single reporter.
Cut to 8 days later, he is eliminated from the competition and all of a sudden a brand new man emerged. He walked into our one-on-one room on Friday happy, relaxed and in a joking mood. Gone were the restrictions about what or how much we could ask him about it. I was planning on saving the tough questions for later but something very funny happened. David and I started talking about how he was a Broadcast Journalism major in school, which I had been as well. So, I gave him the opportunity to "interview" me for practice. His first question to me was how I was dealing with all the scandal about me!
He knew what everyone wanted to talk about and was prepared for it. I give him major credit for finally facing the controversy head on. He admitted that he told producers about his stripping past and that they were fine with it. He also knew that ultimately the information would be revealed. I don't think he know how big it would blow up though. He told me he is not ashamed of his past at all and hopes that's not the reason why he was voted out.
I hope in the future though, contestants will learn from this experience - if there is something unflattering in their pasts, then they need to get the information out on their own before the media makes a mountain out of a mole hill.
He knew what everyone wanted to talk about and was prepared for it. I give him major credit for finally facing the controversy head on. He admitted that he told producers about his stripping past and that they were fine with it. He also knew that ultimately the information would be revealed. I don't think he know how big it would blow up though. He told me he is not ashamed of his past at all and hopes that's not the reason why he was voted out.
I hope in the future though, contestants will learn from this experience - if there is something unflattering in their pasts, then they need to get the information out on their own before the media makes a mountain out of a mole hill.
David is hot, and can sing too!!! I would buy his album in a flash. I am sorry that he got "voted off" and if it was because of his "stripper" past, then America should be ashamed of itself.