Clay Aiken: America Was Right In Eliminating Ada Vox
ABC/Eric McCandless Reading Time: 2 minutes
One of the most controversial eliminations this season on American Idol was that of Ada Vox on Sunday night. Ada definitely had one of the best voices on the show and it was very brave of her to appear on the show in full drag. Many fans on social media were outraged and thought that Ada was only voted off because she is LGBTQ. American Idol legend Clay Aiken doesn’t think so.
You’ll recall that Clay Aiken came in second on the sophomore season of American Idol way back in the mists of time. Since then he has had a successful singing career and even went into politics. He is also an out gay man. In his eyes the problem with Ada wasn’t that she was a drag queen but simply that her voice was not the best. He said in a Huffington Post article,
“Someone needs to be real here. Ada Vox wasn’t voted off because she is a drag queen and she wasn’t voted off because Adam Sanders (her alter ego) is a gay man. She was voted off because she was not the best voice on the show.”
He goes on to praise Ada as a performer and believes that she will be a star. After all, you don’t have to win American Idol to have a great career. Just look at Jennifer Hudson. Not to mention that she broke barriers just by being there. He adds,
“Most of us were thrilled to see a contestant breaking down another barrier. We were excited to see an out and proud contestant doing well and living their truth on an American institution. I certainly was. And when we are proud of someone and rooting for them as fiercely as so many of us were, it’s easy to ignore their shortcomings.”
I’m not sure that I agree with Clay on this. I think Ada is amazing and I do think the fact that she is a drag queen and LGBTQ was a factor. In many parts of America they don’t cotton to that kind of thing. Those of us in the big cities forget that sometimes. Lest we forget, Jurnee was also in the bottom four which is INSANE. Could it be partly because she’s a lesbian? I think so. So, to Mr. Aiken I must respectfully disagree.
