Another article from Reality News Online
http://www.foxesonidol.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article1074.art&page=1More Details and Reader Feedback on Frenchie's Expulsion
by David Bloomberg -- 02/12/2003
More details have come out about what Frenchie did four years ago that eventually led to her dismissal from American Idol. More importantly, fans have been swift to make their reactions known regarding this turn of events.
We should have known it was The Smoking Gun that found out about the past of Frenchie Davis. They have a history of tracking down those tidbits that people would prefer remain hidden. And they did it again, this time causing Fox to unceremoniously boot Frenchie off of the show. Usually, the stories on The Smoking Gun are applauded for knocking some egos down to size. This time, however, the target was somebody well-liked, and the reaction has been rather different.
The Smoking Gun's article cites a source that says Frenchie posed topless and apparently masturbating on a website called "Daddy's Little Girls." It makes me want to wash my keyboard just typing it. But anyway, from what The Smoking Gun says, the site is one of those fake "underage girls" type of sites (one that claims to have underage girls, which would be illegal, so it instead has girls of legal age who are pretending to be underage). The article notes that Frenchie was definitely of age (specifically 18) when her photos were taken, so she did not do anything illegal.
Also according to the site, Frenchie says she posed for the photos because she needed the money to get back into college.
Remember that Nikki McKibbin, last year's third place winner, did a topless strip act in order to pay her bills. This information was apparently known but not publicly revealed until her place in the show was finalized. So apparently it's okay to strip on a regular basis to pay the bills, but not okay to pose for some pictures to get back into college. Fox has a rather strange way of prioritizing things. (Of course, this is the same network who allowed Sarah the bondage queen on Joe Millionaire.)
Response to news of Frenchie's expulsion has drawn immediate ire from fans of American Idol. There is an online petition asking producers to bring her back that, as of 2:00pm Central time, already has over 2400 signatures. E-mail coming in to Foxes On Idol has been consistently angry at the producers for taking this action. One "unhappy loyal fan" wrote, "You have got to be kidding me! No one cares what she used to do as long as she can entertain us now! She was the biggest topic of discussion with all of my friends these last few weeks. We were so excited to see her! Big mistake, Fox! You'll have a lot of unhappy fans with this move." Another noted, "No one is perfect and we can see that through ourselves."
Still another correspondent pointed out, "Everyone has skeletons in their closets and sometimes you have to do what you have to do when you're trying to survive and make it out here in this world. Unfortunately, everyone isn't born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but everyone does have some kind of talent and Frenchie's talent is her singing." And another added that she was doing something positive by going back to college.
Overall, people are simply in disbelief that she would be disqualified for something that happened four years ago and wonder exactly what rule of American Idol she violated.
While I agree completely with those who have signed the petition and e-mailed in their thoughts, I have to say that the chances of Fox reversing themselves on this is somewhere between slim and none. They have already removed her almost completely from their website - I could not find any reference to her other than in the recaps done a couple weeks ago by "The Jaded Journalist." Attempting to get to her contestant page brought up a page that wouldn't load properly.
It will be interesting to see how the show addresses such a high-profile contestant being kicked off the show. Last year, when Delano Cagnolatti was booted for lying about his age, his "confession" and details of how it was discovered were shown on the air. Somehow I rather doubt they will do that with Frenchie. But Frenchie was a main focus early on - it will be just as difficult for them to completely gloss over it.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this situation is addressed. But the fact of the matter remains that one of the potentially biggest stars of this season has been eliminated because of something she did four years ago in order to raise money to get back to college - something that has nothing to do with her ability to sing or to be the American Idol.
David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.