The gathering on Wednesday night of American Idol’s royalty was unprecedented. All former winners of “American Idol” were onstage at Nokia Theatre except one. They sang a song for Simon Cowell, mentor and departing judge.
Taylor Hicks, Kris Allen, Jordin Sparks, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson were lined up together, giving a very rousing performance of “Together We Are One” by Deltra Goodrem. The icons from “Idol,” who were mainly wearing black, also were joined by almost two dozen past season finalists, including favorites like Elliot Yamin, Bo Bice, Michael Johns, David Archuleta and Jason Castro.
David Cook, season seven winner, was the only champion that was missing. Cook said the reason he wasn’t able to attend was due to a prior commitment in Kansas City for a charity event for cancer. During his “American Idol” run, Cook paid tribute to his brother, now deceased, who during Cook’s time on “Idol” was battling cancer. Cook did tweet congratulations to Lee DeWyze for his win. He congratulated him saying he was sorry he wasn’t there to see all his fellow idols, but was there in spirit.
Adam Lambert, runner-up of last year’s “American Idol” competition, was conspicuously absent as well. A report earlier that day was circulated that Lambert was dropped from the performance due to not attending rehearsal. Another report was that Lambert’s doctor had ordered that he rest his vocals. Yet another report was that he hadn’t been invited.
All of the rumors were vigorously denied by Lambert in a series of fiery tweets. He said he would have loved being at the American Idol Finale and say farewell to Simon and give his support to the finalist, but that the tour for his fans was his top priority. Later he elaborated saying that after he had become more aware of the rumor mill and gossip, that he hadn’t been asked to make an appearance in any capacity in the finale and that he had gotten a throat bug that was probably caught on his flight back from Boston after his concert. Lambert further explained that on Tuesday he had been placed on a vocal rest following tour rehearsals.
Lashing out over what he considered irresponsible reporting regarding his absence, Lambert also said that it was sad he was forced defending himself. No one who had pointed fingers had any factual details. I’m working very hard on the tour. The only thing I heard was you weren’t asked to be part of the finale performance. Do you want to be in the audience. My reply sorry, today I have too much work.
PopEater.com created a lot of the drama. Earlier that day they claimed to have an exclusive on all the chaos behind the alleged no-show by Lambert. The report was lambasted by a Lambert rep, stating that the story of Lambert not showing up for rehearsals was completely false.
Spokesperson Roger Widynowski stated that like most of the finalists for “Idol,” producers had approached Lambert to be part of Cowell’s alumni tribute. However over the weekend Lambert came down with laryngitis. Due to the fact that the “Glam Nation Tour” was scheduled to started on June 4, Lambert was put on vocal rest. Widynowski said he never missed rehearsal and was never confirmed for performing on the show. He did disagree with charges that Lambert’s absence was due to his diva behavior. It was confirmed by Widynowski that on May 19 Lambert did send a provocative tweet out stating that he wouldn’t be in the final. Lambert wrote, not performing, unfortunately, at Idol’s Finale. I guess plenty of artists are already booked.
