Andy DehnartAn American Idol 6 contestant who was sent to Hollywood (and once pled guilty to marijuana possession) was removed from the competition, and producers suggested he lie to “protect [me] and protect the show.”
Akron Watson, who appeared in last night’s show, tells Pegasus News that, late in the week before the Hollywood round began, producers called. “They said we’re not gonna let you go. And I asked ‘why?’ And he said ‘Well I’m not really sure’ … and then he gave me some alternatives for what I should say to people if they asked why I was kicked off … He told me to tell people that I was now an alternate … That would protect [me] and protect the show.”
His 2003 arrest and eventual guilty plea for marijuana possession was likely the reason. But as Pegasus News reports, “others have made it all the way to the finals with felony arrests,” and Watson “told Idol all about his past when they sent a crew to interview him, so they obviously knew about that already.”
After being interviewed and filmed in Dallas, “he received numerous e-mails from producers at American Idol with information regarding his trip to Hollywood for the next round of auditions.” Later came the call telling him he was eliminated–or, as the liars reportedly told him to say, became an alternate.