She may not have thanked "American Idol" during her acceptance speech at the Oscars last Sunday but fortunately, Jennifer Hudson, still keeps the show in her heart, "I give Idol credit because they are that platform. They were that platform and people didn't always have that. I have relatives that can sing up a wall but they are too old to be seen or to go on a show like that."
Hudson talked to Shaun Robinson, on Friday night, at the NAACP Image Awards where she won for Best Supporting Actress and even gave a shout out on stage to Idol judge Randy Jackson, "I'd like to thank the NAACP, and let's not forget Randy over here, for picking me as a wild card for American Idol!"
She does make it clear however that it was "Dreamgirls" director, Bill Condon, who discovered her as an actress and Idol can't take credit for that.
Hudson told Shaun that she paid a visit to the Top 20 contestants on Thursday night, "It was on elimination day. So, I thought that was the perfect time to do so because I was always in the bottom three."
The contestants were sitting around in the green room when in trotted Hudson to surprise them, "I just walked in like 'Oh my god, I'm so nervous I'll be eliminated' and they looked up and they went crazy. So, it was a lot of fun. The last thing I said was its alright if you are eliminated. Take it from me it's ok. So, they can be reminded its not the end of the world."
Jennifer claims she went to the show simply to meet the kids with no intention of it being filmed. It was taped however (surprise, surprise) and will most likely air on the show this week. One person she did not have an encounter with was judge Simon Cowell, who ironically that same night during a panel discussion at the Museum of Television and Radio made it clear he took issue with Hudson's recent comments about the show where she called it "just a stepping stone."
Hudson told Shaun, "Simon was hiding from me. I think he was in his trailer or something."
On Friday morning, I interviewed the four booted contestants, Alaina Alexander, AJ Tabaldo, Nick Pedro and Leslie Hunt.
Elimination night was a tearful one this week which surprised Leslie, "Yeah it was really emotional you never know how emotional it is going to be until you are sitting right in the line of fire. You never know how many people you have on your side either until they start rushing up on you and you just see people in tears with you. It feels good but it hurts at the same time. It is just strange."
As for going back to her job scooping poop as a dog walker Leslie tells me, "Probably not. I don't know. Probably not. I mean I don't have a job so I am sure that my old boss would be willing to take me back but I don't know. I think I am just going to keep ahead with the music and just you know try to do something."
Nick, who took a leave of absence from his job as an account executive, tells me he will head back to Boston and try to work on the music, "I just want to kind of settle back a little bit back home and have a moment to breathe and decide what I am going to do."
I gave huge kudos to AIaina Alexander for not being able to sing her swan song. Alaina could not fight back the tears and wound up not being able to get her words out, "I couldn't hold it back either I was like I really tried cause I really wanted to have that moment to sing it and I felt empowered and then I was like oh no and I just let it go but I brought the girls down for support and then I felt a little bit better."
I absolutely loved that she could not get her words out. I said this on MSNBC over the weekend how crazy it is that Idol makes you sing the song that America hated you singing. If it were me, I would take the microphone and start acting insane. That way people would remember me and talk about my shenanigans. That clip would be shown all over the place!
For all those AJ Tabaldo fans who were shocked to see him eliminated, he says it will not deter him, "I don't want to stop here I have worked so hard why give up now and so I just want to get back in there and you know get the career started the American idol is over but not the career."
These four have been in the trenches with Antonella Barba as she deals with her photo scandal and they gave me an update on how she is coping. Leslie says, "I think she is doing a great job. She is mature in a lot of ways just to be able to deal with that and still be on that stage and sing. That takes a really strong person. She is doing all right. It's tough but she is doing good."
