UPDATE: Nigel tweets Friday morning, “I don’t wish to continue the @leedewyze story. True, he wasn’t asked to sing but Lee knows he was asked to present the trophy a week before.” Ugh Nigel…if you don’t want to continue the story…why are you tweeting about it? Nigel is basically calling Lee a liar!
UPDATE 2: Lee tweets a response: I have no hard feelings towards Nigel, Idol, or anyone else. I love music, and that’s what I’m going to focus on. I support American Idol…and all it has done for me. I respect the decisions made for the Finale, and hope alls well that ends well. Thank you guys for everything:)
I have no idea what really went down behind the scenes when TPTB put together the finale, but I will say, in this twitter volley between Nigel and Lee, Lee’s comes off as the guy taking the high road…
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There’s been a ton of controversy surrounding Lee DeWyze’s absence from last night’s American Idol finale. Typically, the reigning champ appears at the finale– whether to sing or pass the baton to the new winner in some fashion.
When Lee told fans a couple of days ago, that he was not asked to sing at this year’s finale, folks were pretty upset. His brother, Mike in particular let loose with some invective, calling the situation bullsh*t–going as far as to call Idol producers “scumbags”. He later deleted his angrier tweets and apologized. But heh–that was nothing compared to what Lee’s fans had to say to Nigel!
Maybe it was the abuse at the hands of Idol fans that led the American Idol producer to tweet this strange message in the wee hours of Thursday morning: “I was so upset Lee DeWyze wouldn’t present the winners trophy to Scotty. Especially as he’d been on the show this Season. I guess he was shy.”
What the heck? Never has a reigning Idol taken the stage to present the new winner with a trophy, so what was Nigel talking about? Finally, Lee took to twitter tonight to set the story straight:
Hey everyone, first off I want to say congrats to Scotty & Lauren, awesome job. Well done Scotty! Secondly, just for the record… I was not asked to be involved in the Finale. It wasn’t until about 2 minutes before they announced that Nigel had approached me and asked if he could “borrow” me for a second. I didn’t feel a last second jump on stage was appropriate. It was Scotty’s moment.I appreciate American Idol, and the opportunity it has given me. And the people who have made that show possible. I am not angry, or bitter etc. It was an amazing Finale, and I would have loved to be a part of it. I just wasnt asked.Good luck to all the Contestants and stay true to yourself. Thanks everyone for your support, tour coming up… Good times I’ll talk to you all soon. Love ya!
It’s important to note that Nigel was not executive producer of American Idol during Lee’s season. Maybe that’s why it’s been easy for Nigel to be so dismissive of the Season 9 winner. Nigel wants to pretend that Season 9 never happened. But it did, and as such, it should have been acknowledged last night, in some way, as the crown passed. And no, Nigel. some half-assed idea to drag poor Lee onstage at the last minute counts. I don’t blame Lee one bit for turning him down.
