American Idol Votes: David Archuleta’s Dad is Sent Off
By Tisha (Entertainment editor)
David Archuleta has had an incredible run on American Idol, cruising through every round without threat of being voted off. He seems to have won the hearts of judges and the public.
However, Archuleta’s talent and success has been marred by his dad, Jeff, who has been a tiresome presence to contestants, producers and vocal coaches throughout the entire series. This only became public this week, when Jeff insisted that David replace some of the lyrics of his first song “Stand by Me” with a verse from Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls”. Although the producers refused permission, the lyrics were changed in David’s performance.
This caused a major stir with the song’s publishers, and American Idol had to pay up. The show’s lawyers then told Jeff that he could sit in the live audience, but he was banned from going backstage. As David is now 17, it was ruled that he doesn’t need a guardian, only a ‘teacher’. Jeff Archuleta was also banned from the set of “Star Search”, in which David competed a few years back.
Parents on reality TV: Do they make or break their children?
Pushy and deranged parents have been behind star children from Michael Jackson to Lindsay Lohan. There is a fine line between providing opportunities for a child to nurture a talent and achieve their potential, and pushing a child to emotional breaking point and creating a lot of embarrassment along the way.
Simon Cowell has often criticised parents for instilling their children with false confidence about the extent of their talents, telling the parents of an atrociously bad singer on X-Factor “You are the reason why this girl is disappointed and I have to blame you guys for encouraging her to believe she’s going to do well in something when she so obviously isn’t. You have given her false hope.”
Is David Archuleta the next American Idol?
Archuleta is the close favourite to win Season 7, according to Hubdub, the news prediction game. He would be the third male contestant to win the show.
For the winner of American Idol, winning the show is hardly the end of working hard to secure a singing career. Regardless of whether this is David Archuleta, he is stuck with Jeff Archuleta as his father, and it seems that maintaining a decent working relationship with his father will be the real battle. I hope he gets through this week’s performances successfully, and can be remembered as the cute kid with a big voice rather than the child of another crazy dad.
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