"Idol" Haters Love Kevin
Tue Mar 21, 7:00 AM
Looks like the sky may not be falling on Chicken Little. At least, if one Website has any say in it.
Votefortheworst.com is back to its usual antics, delighting American Idol haters and dismaying show producers by unleashing a campaign to back the contestant the site deems the worst of the wannabes.
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E! Online This season the online campaign has rallied behind 16-year-old Kevin Covais, nicknamed Chicken Little by host Ryan Seacrest for his passing resemblance to the bespectacled Disney character.
The site, which started just prior to American Idol's third season and quickly got behind red-haired crooner John Stevens, claims its intention is not to be mean-spirited, rather to get voters to simply "embrace the s__________ess" of the show by prolonging the stay of "less talented contestants" and people "like Kevin Covais, who have no chance of winning."
So it's more of a public service, really.
"For us, the fun of American Idol is that it's a cheesy show that is much more enjoyable when bad singers stick around," site creator Dave Della Terza explains in USA Today.
According to the Website, Della Terza started the campaign simply to make the show more enjoyable. The competition, he writes, is fixed: Rocker Chris Daughtry "or any white male"--except, presumably, Covais--is whom he believes the producers are grooming for victory.
The competition, Della Tarza says, is not about singing, but about making good reality TV. He says his site merely acknowledges that fact by "helping to keep around an entertaining protagonist."
"If our pick is ousted from the competition, we'll move on to someone new," the site reads. "If we can help someone undeserving inch a spot closer to winning, that's a great success!"
Which means Kellie Pickler better join Team Covais and quick.
Last week Votefortheworst.com decided to back only Covais after previously encouraging voters to phone in on behalf of both contestants.
"While Kellie Pickler is still an awful, tone deaf fake, it would be foolish to split our votes at this point," a post on the site read. "If for any reason Kevin is kicked out of the competition, we will then vote for Kellie (she's still terrible), so she's not off the VFTW radar."
Unfortunately, the site may not be the only ones who think Covais is among the weakest of the pack. Last week, Simon Cowell called Covais' rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Part Time Lover" an "appalling" performance.
Of course, being singled out on the site may not be wholly bad for the budding artist.
Jasmine Trias, one of the site's chosen few for the show's third season, made it into the top four, while last year's main pick, Scott Savol, was among the competition's final five contestants--a feat for which the site, naturally, took credit.
For its part, Fox is not issuing any new statements on the anti-Idol Website, instead deferring to the lengthy denouncement they released last spring.
"While it is unfortunate that a small group of people are so caustic that they believe it would be humorous to attempt to negatively sway the voting on American Idol, the number of purported visits to the website would have no impact on voting," the network and show producers said last year. "Their hateful campaign will have no effect on the selection of the next American Idol."
Covais is one of 11 finalists remaining in the competition. This week, the batch of hopefuls will try their hands at songs from the '50s, with Barry Manilow, who not so coincidentally just topped the charts with The Greatest Songs of the Fifties, set to perform on Wednesday's results show.
