If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or email alerts. Thanks for visiting!
It is not every day that I am called a specialist on American Idol opinions. But since Confused referred to me as such on DesiPundit, I’ll try to sneak in an opinion. Mera Gussa blogging on the O3 domain attributed Sanjaya’s continued presence as racist behavior by Indians. The blogger says:
The Indian/Indian origin population in the US is going all out to support Sanjaya. In fact there was even a blogger on O3 who promoted the idea of voting for Sanjaya even though he/she admitted Sanjaya had inferior talent. The rules of the game allow any person to cast as many votes he or she wishes to. The voter has to pay for voting. Everywhere I go the Indian community is all ga-ga about Sanjaya and their support for him. And yes, they even admit that he is not as talented as his competitors. Yet they vote for him, multiple times, paying for each vote.
Uber Desi who was one of the earlier bloggers to have promoted Sanjaya responds appropriately:
My contention is that Sanjaya does not possess the intangiables that make an American Idol. His performances are monotonous. He cannot dance to save his life, hit different notes, move and entertain the audience like a pop star is supposed to. He will be voted off at some stage but all this does not translate to “he is not talented”. He is just not American Idol talented (emphasis mine.)
As far as my ’special opinion’ goes, I agree with Uber Desi that the blogger at O3 has it all wrong. If you count every motel-owning desi in the U.S., we are around 2-2.5 million and I’m sure not everyone is that enthusiastic about American Idol much less voting for a desi contestants. We may be all supportive and sing praises but vote we will not because it costs money. That said, there might be few thousand shrieking desi girls who go all awwwww when Sanjaya takes the stage and few of them might even instantly get on their cell phones to vote for him. But the bulk of the American Idol votes come from girls in the demographic group of 9-16 of all hues and shades. White, black, brown, they are largely color blind (racist attitudes come at a much later age, according to me) and vote for the cutest guy on the block. Few seasons ago, John Stevens who could sing only Sinatra well enough reached the final 6 dodging many raised eyebrows. I liked Sanjaya in the initial rounds but agree with the ‘critics’ that he has lost his edge among other versatile singers. I didn’t vote for him then and I don’t vote for him now.
I just take American Idol for what it is - yet another reality show. I watch it because nothing else is watchable on a dull Tuesday night and it keeps me away from my laptop - from one idiot box to another. To answer the question if it is racism that keeps Sanjaya on, the simple answer is, nope. Indians can hardly agree with each other on other important issues so why the hell would they for a reality show that makes them pay for their support? Those who vote for him think that he is a good singer and he probably is (don’t know much about music frankly) but as Uber Desi says, he simply is not American Idol material where you have to sashay around, make pouty expressions, and appear all dreamy which Sanjaya probably cannot. His long hair that even Ryan Seacrest envies has kept him alive so far.
If you really believe American Idol is about finding a good singer, then you better wake up. It is simply about creating entertaining reality TV, their donation drive for African kids later next month notwithstanding. If you are getting all riled up about racism on reality TV just the way you did when it happened on Big Brother UK, it is time for you to get a life. If I have one is not the question.
Update#1: Vote For The Worst is officially backing Sanjaya Malakar. And as far as I know, there is nothing desi about that site. So this might be one source of his votes.
Update#2: TV Squad, the blog that is one-stop shop for everything on television today strongly defends Sanjaya. It is one of the better defenses out there for the poor kid:
Sanjaya is also cute, with great hair and an awesome smile. He clearly has the teenybopper “crush” vote. Should young girls be voting for a guy just because he’s cute? Sure, why not? This wouldn’t be the first generation to make an average singer a pop idol because of great hair…In some ways, Sanjaya is totally Idol-worthy because he has amassed a huge fanbase despite some very flawed performances. This tells me that this kid does have something special — the elusive IT FACTOR. And more importantly, he appeals to the teenybopper audience — which makes him extremely appealing to record companies. He might not be there yet, but Sanjaya is young and has POTENTIAL.
Technorati Tags: American Idol, Sanjaya Malakar, racism, desi, Indians, reality TV, television, music
by Patrix | on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 2:35 pm | 
Music, Recommended, Television . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:55 pm reply
I’ve since updated my post with this:
The term “racism” is being used far too frequently and conveniently and is starting to lose its real meaning. I would reserve words like racist for far more serious issues like this.
March 13th, 2007 at 10:21 pm reply
[...] The specialist responds, As far as my ’special opinion’ goes, I agree with Uber Desi that the blogger at O3 has it all [...]
March 13th, 2007 at 11:46 pm reply
You’ve gotta be kidding me! You don’t watch House?!
March 14th, 2007 at 5:41 am reply
Err… count me in an a desi who actually really has no clues about the whole brouhaha :P
March 14th, 2007 at 8:35 am reply
Exactly what I was going to say , Piker. You dont watch House, Patrix? Or is it not on the days Idol is? ( I’ve lost touch of my regular national network series for sometime, but slowly getting back)
yeah, I think this guy is the ‘chicken little’ of this season, uncles and aunties are going to text Idol. That said, I might just check with my aunts if they do :)
BTW, Don’t they all get makeovers sometime into the show anyway? His style is creepy
March 14th, 2007 at 8:48 am reply
You should’ve seen him before his makeover.
March 14th, 2007 at 1:52 pm reply
He is also supported by http://votefortheworst.com
which strives to undermine the american idol phenomena by encouraging voting for the least talented contestant.
March 15th, 2007 at 8:45 am reply
well said Trixy. Most desis don’t have the time for as far as I can see!
March 16th, 2007 at 7:54 pm reply
Santosh, if ‘real’ issues take precedence, we wouldn’t be talking about American Idol at all :)
Piker, House follows American Idol and most of the time is bumped off for extending American Idol shows. Damn Fox!
Bongo, trust me, you aren’t missing anything and probably are better off.
Sqrl, I guess I am the only one who watches this crap and worse, blogs about it.
SR, yup! After Anotella Barba, he is the new fave of that cool site :)
Gabby, I guess some do :)
March 19th, 2007 at 6:43 am reply
I have been on another planet for a week and the first thing I did when I came back was to check if Sanjaya is still around. And, even though he sang terribly, why am I not surprised that he is. But, DialIdol did get it all wrong this time, didn’t it?
March 20th, 2007 at 12:08 pm reply
Yo dude! I’ve noticed that you’ve been lagging in your coverage of AI recently :-)
Hopefully this will renew your interest.
March 20th, 2007 at 3:34 pm reply
Gaurav, trust me, you haven’t been missing much. Yup! After Dial Idol got it wrong, I’ve lost all interest in voting patterns, etc.
Santosh, I am done with analyzing AI and as you mention, Sanjaya will be chucked out this week. So my interest effectively ends. I’ll be convinced of AI’s appeal only if Melinda or Lakisha win this season.
March 20th, 2007 at 8:06 pm reply
Sanjaya Malakar can not stop smiling with his bag full of c***. He loves lipstick and should have a mudhole stompped in his face. However I would eat the corn out of his sisters poop. So in ending Sanjaya is a pole smoking camel jocky and his sister is going to be the next hot porn star.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:52 am reply
[...] pranced around the stage & among the audience, and flailed his hair around. He still sucked but I repeat American Idol is not a singing [...]