From TV guide online~
SOUR NOTE: The mother of tin-eared American Idol crooner John Stevens is
coming to her son's defense. According to Entertainment Tonight, Lynn
Stevens went to Idol producers after she heard a radio deejay tell his
listeners not to worry about John because, at his first concert, "somebody
will take him out." That prompted Idol exec producer Nigel Lythgoe to do a
little PR for the poor fella. "I can't believe, really, what's happening to
America," he told ET. "This 16-year-old came on this show and bought into
the fact that if you like him, you pick up a telephone and vote for him. He,
nor his family, ever bought into the fact that America would turn like this
on somebody. And it's totally unfair." Speaking of unfair...
IN DEFENSE OF JEN: Sir Elton John is weighing in on Jennifer Hudson's
shocking ouster from American Idol last week, calling the whole thing
"incredibly racist." John -- who rubbed elbows with Hudson and Co. earlier
this month as an AI special guest -- says "the three people I was really
impressed with, and they just happened to be black, young female singers,
and they all seem to be landing in the bottom three." No word yet on what
Eltie thought of Camile Velasco's ghastly cover of his "Goodbye Yellow Brick
Road," but I hear he's mulling a lawsuit.