Fox needs to come clean about Abdul

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox has a big problem with "American Idol," where allegations of inappropriatecontact between judge Paula Abdul and a young contestant have damaged the credibility of primetime‘s top-rated show.

While ABC News‘ "Primetime Live: Fallen Idol" expose in Maydid not have much solid proof of all of contestant CoreyClark‘s allegations of a sexual relationship with Abdul, thephone records it produced showed that Abdul, one of only three"American Idol" judges, had frequent and extensive contact with Clark, a contestant on the program in 2003.


Whether other allegations also are proved -- such as Abdul‘s coaching the candidate, purchasing his clothes andcarrying on an intimate affair -- the damage has been done.Under no circumstances should there be even the appearance ofcollusion between judge and candidate, and the phone records,all by themselves, leave no doubt that this occurred.

An honorable and ethical response to the situation requiresa full, forth coming investigation by Fox. Meanwhile, Abdulshould have been removed from her position as judge pending theoutcome. The name or names of the investigators should be madepublic as well as the findings. Anything less smacks of acover-up and, at this point, the smacking is practicallydeafening.

Fox, perhaps hoping no one would remember, said at the time that it would look into the matter and then said nothing more.Maybe, just maybe, if the TV critics attending the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour didn‘t bring it up, the wholet hing could be swept under the rug. Alas for Fox and to thecredit of the critics, the subject came up throughout programing president Peter Liguori‘s news conference.

"We‘re addressing it as we speak," Liguori said during his executive Q&A session during Fox‘s portion of TCA last week,though there has been no announcement of any progress in the two months since the investigation began.

You can verify a phone bill statement in two days. You can talk to the guy who sold Abdul the suit she allegedly boughtfor Clark and all the other witnesses in two weeks. Heck, you can develop a TV series based on this scandal in less time than it is taking to investigate it. Being thorough is one thing;foot-dragging and playing for time is another.





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