2nd UPDATE: Access Hollywood contacted Billy Joel’s Rep who said that despite Scott’s claims, Joel “was never offered to duet with Scott. She added that Joel, …never agreed to appear on ‹Idol.ƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬
UPDATE: You can hear a rehearsal version of Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre playing and singing Billy Joel’s “Tell Her About It” at Scott’s Myspace. It’s pretty good. Too bad it was cut.
American Idol fans were left scratching their heads wondering why 10th and 9th place finishers Michael Sarver and Megan Joy got a high-profile duet with Steve Martin while other Idols, like 8th place Scott MacIntyre and 5th place Matt Giraud got nada…
A ticked-off Scott explains in a recent Myspace blog post that he and Matt were set to play dueling pianos with Billy Joel, but when Joel backed out, the producers cut the number. As a make-up, Ken Warwick promised Scott to have him on the show next season.
Now, if somebody could explain what happened to Anoop Desai’s duet, we’ll be all set!
Scott’s blog post:
There has been one largely unspoken question on the minds of piano fans everywhere this season of American Idol: will the two pianists play together??? Well, what better time to showcase Scott MacIntyre and Matt G. in a fierce battle of the keys than during the American Idol Season 8 Finale!
That right ¦ We had two gorgeous grand pianos facing each other on stage, the piano curves fit together like shoes in a shoebox, and close-up camera shots of our fingers and faces were displayed on three huge jumbotrons at the front of the 7, 000 seat Nokia Theatre as we sang in turn through Billy Joel …Tell Her About It and dueled it out in a tear-it-up piano solo section. According to some of the producers who witnessed our rehearsal, it was the most exciting and memorable number of the entire Finale show. I have the original Finale flow sheet right here showing the piano duel immediately after Kris Allen and Keith Urban.
We got to the Nokia Theatre on Wednesday morning (show day) and out of the blue about 9:30am found out the duet had been cut and the decision was final. Needless to say, I was shocked. American Idol had originally invited Billy Joel himself to perform with us, but he was unable to make it in the end; and because our duet was the only duet not involving another celebrity, it was the first thing to be cut when the show was condensed. Over the last few days I have tried to reason this out every way possible, and it makes no sense to me why one of the most compelling and unique performances of the show would be cut simply because the original artist wasnt present. (Perhaps Tatiana and Bikini Girl were more important after all ¦ :P) There will most likely not be another set of competent pianists on the show anytime soon, and this would have been an opportunity to make American Idol history.
My email inbox has been flooded with questions from dear fans around the world such as …Why didnt you perform a duet after finishing in 8th place? …Why were you the only Top 13 performer who didnt have solos in any of the group numbers? …Why were you mostly in the background on stage? and even …Why were you discriminated against as a visually impaired performer? I appreciate hearing everything you all have to say through your emails, MySpace comments, Twitter posts, AI.com forum posts, etc, and I completely agree with many of your sentiments. All I can say is that I share your frustration and am as disappointed as you are that I wasnt featured during the Finale. I honestly just mustered up a smile and danced my way through the show ¦ I realize life isnt fair, and with 30 million viewers tuning in, it definitely seems like a lost opportunity. But I believe God is bigger than all of this and has a plan for my life reaching far beyond the circumstances of today. I have dealt with these kinds of situations before and know that everything happens for a reason and in time I very well may look back on this and finally realize it was for the best and that something better was waiting just around the corner.
On that note, American Idol Ken Warwick promised me several times that he would make it up to me by having me back to perform next season. I know it not always easy to hold a top Hollywood TV executive to his word, but Ken is the most talented and warm-hearted producer Ive ever worked with, and Id really like to believe he will come through on that promise ¦ I would love to perform an original song on the show from my upcoming Fall CD. Time will tell.
Many of you have asked where you can voice your opinions and frustrations. You can write to:
CBS Television City
American Idol
Attn: Ken Warwick
7800 Beverly Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90036
USA
