"American Idol" and its strange voting process made the front page of the New York Times with the headline "AT&T May Have Swayed 'Idol' Results." From the story:
By EDWARD WYATT
LOS ANGELES -- AT&T, one of the biggest corporate sponsors of "American Idol," might have influenced the outcome of this year's competition by providing phones for free text-messaging services and lessons in casting blocks of votes at parties organized by fans of Kris Allen, the Arkansas singer who was the winner of the show last week.
Representatives of AT&T, whose mobile phone network is the only one that can be used to cast "American Idol" votes via text message, provided the free text-messaging services at two parties in Arkansas after the final performance episode of "American Idol" last week, according to the company and people at the events.
There appear to have been no similar efforts to provide free texting services to supporters of Adam Lambert, who finished as the runner-up to Mr. Allen.
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Paige here again. It should make for entertaining gossip today, but many "Idol" fans are saying that it's a non-story. Idolator.com breaks it down and says that these kinds of parties have been going on for years. The "representatives of AT & T" are just salespeople from local stores trying to drum up business.
What do you think? Shady, or no foul?
SARAH: Adam's fans did not have the AT&T technical support and the equipment that AT&T provided to Kris' fans. This was a corporate cheating operation that resulted in a million dollar contract for Kris. The math has been done by technically astute people and it is possible that over half of the Arkansas votes for Kris came thanks to the AT&T intervention. AT&T is a corporate sponsor of Idol. Complaints need to be made to the FCC. The complaint process is all over the internet. Kris has even acknowledged "textgate" and referred to it as cheating. Adam was the best singer in the singing contest!
whatever, adam fans. we all know that adam's a winner in our hearts anyways! GO ADAM! we'd be seeing you for many years to come alright!
Adam Lambert fans who are whining haven't looked at what was going on in their own backyard. Adam Lambert fans were doing the same thing. Here is just one site of many that shows that Adam Lambert fans were also using the same tactics.
http://adam-lambert.org/hardcore-voting-guide/
Plus Dial Idol, which measures the phone call busy signals, showed that Kris Allen was ahead of Adam Lambert. Phone calls is not the same as text messaging.
http://www.dialidol.com/asp/predictions/predictions.asp
So apparently all this whining and crying is pure over reaction to the truth, which is Adam Lambert lost because many Gokey fans voted for Kris because Gokey had left.
So looks like Adam Lambert fans were ALSO cheating.
The voting system is, and has been, broken -- the ridiculous "Sanjaya" longevity where 9 to 12 year old little girls were texting up to a thousand votes apiece per hour proved how easily this inane and preposterous skewed voting can be perpetrated, and the credibility of the results destroyed. Advertisers need to PAY ATTENTION -- they are not getting the viewership nor audience share they're paying for; they are being deluded (as is the home viewing audience by being told 100 million "people voted") when in reality it's a fraction of that number text voting an inordinate amount of times). I'm done watching; after the Sanjaya absurdity I quit watching regularly before, but was drawn back by the stellar talent this year. Unfortunately, I should have better spent my time this season than watching this farce unfurl. Kris Allen? Seems a nice kid, though a nasal and whiny singer. American Idol's claim that it's a "singing content"? Utter nonsense.
Congratulations, America!!! Just like Florida stole the presidency from Al Gore, Arkansas stole the title from Adam Lambert. AT&T not only helped voters in Arkansas power text but also distributed phones already set up for FREE. One poster from Arkansas absolutely confirmed that there’s no way Adam could win with what was going on in Arkansas that Tuesday night. Krisallenation site confirmed this as well where they were congratulating themselves for outsmarting the system.
How can Arkansas, with a population of only 2.8 million cast 38 million votes? Well, if AT&T can help 1 person in Arkansas put in 45,000 votes, then anything is possible. Not only that. AT&T also helped voters in Arkansas vote in different time zones. Means, votes placed from Arkansas could easily top more than 40 million but distributed as coming from other states.
It’s so sad that this smeared The AI Kris Allen who he himself admits it’s Adam who deserves to be The American Idol. But never mind. Adam is The WORLD’S Idol. If only international fans could vote, there’s no doubt ADAM wins by a landslide.
It’s better that Adam ends up as runner up than be a questionable winner all your life. It’s a pity it had to happen to Kris.
People are posting conjectures about 'how many votes' one could send by power texting. AT&T was stupid enough to actually put in their press release that they doubted that any of the power texting votes made ANY difference to the final outcome. American Idol said the same thing, that the margin was huge (though we'll clearly never know the truth).
They are all missing the point.
It doesn't matter if this power-texting resulted in 1 extra vote or 10 million extra vote.
DEAR AT&T, A I PRODUCERS, AND EVERYONE ELSE CONNECTED WITH THE SHOW: TAKE NOTE:
It isn't 'how many' votes were made. It is the principal of the thing. The simple act of taking phones and showing people how to power text and then giving them free access to the AT&T network to text was WRONG WRONG WRONG. I managed to text about 30 votes for Adam, because I couldn't get through on any of the phone lines. I want AT&T to not charge me for those 30 text messages. It isn't right or fair to offer free texting to some and not to others.
AT&T is despicable, AI Producers are idiots if they think this is no big deal, and everyone who is saying this is being blown out of proportion just doesn't get it.
Kris is the winner, ok, we get that. What we are pissed about is the unprofessional, unethical way AT&T handled this, and the followup press releases that are skirting the issue and acting like the rest of us with ethics and morals are being drama queens.
I can't change their behavior but I can certainly change mine. I won't be watching Am Idol again nor will I EVER support any AT&T products. I am changing my cell carrier because of this fiasco, because I have no desire to financially support such a company. They stink.
Oh no!! I never even thought about it at the time, but when I voted for Adam I chose lines 1,3 & 5 and I also heard "thanks for voting for contestant number#2". I think I heard it every time! I just wasn't thinking! I knew I had the correct number so I wasn't concerned. Although I did wonder why it didn't say their name and said the number instead. There is something seriously wrong here!!
I think they will both be rich and famous and for some reason you people dont have anything better to do than gripe about somthing that was over 2 weeks ago. i am from AR and i dont appreciate you downing our state!!!!!
This is truly an outrage. Fox's and American Idols response to the At&T scandal was a complete joke. American idol cannot say who the winner truly is due to the fact of what happened with At&T texting as well as the issue with the phone voting as well. I voted for Adam multiple times the evening of the finale and was able to get through at least 15 times. Unfortunately, 2 of my 15 votes went to Kris. I voted for him through idols # 1-866-43657 03 and 05. When the vote was accepted correctly, it states thank you for voting for contestant #1(Adam) but on two occasions it stated thank you for voting for contestant #2(Kris) when in fact it should have been #1(Adam). How many people did this happen to? In my opinion, American Idol and Fox will never be able to convince the public that the voting was fair and in fact the American Idol winner was Kris.
It doesn't matter if it was one phone provided or thousands. The fact that a representative(s) from AT&T should NOT be in Arkansas helping people text vote. And not be in California. The are a Corporate sponsor for American Ido.
It really is a shame for Chris that his win has to be marked with this.
This is a complete outrage to the viewers who spent their time voting for Adam Lambert. They also clearly posted an "Operation Ding-Dong" site for Kris which was clearly posted all over the internet. I am also hearinf AI only registers the first 10 votes per line per caller. If that is the case why doesn't AI inform the viewers of this? It is a complete waste of time for viewers to vote the full four or two hours and they DO NOT clarify this. AI will have a diiferent following next season for sure. Not the older viewers. I think they need to acknowledge this with the AT&T representation or something.
FOUL.
The point is, AT&T as American Idol's sponsor, should not be out there influencing the votes in favor of one contestant over another. If they want to use the watch parties as a place to market their phones (which was their FIRST mistake, imo), then they should do it for BOTH contestants
This is a HUGE scandal, and I am incredibly glad that it's getting some exposure because what they did was WRONG.
It was wrong to Adam, it was wrong to all of the Adam fans who sat here voting for hours on end, and it's wrong to every person who doesn't have a Go phone or AT&T service but who, if they were a Kris fan in Arkansas, could have gone to a watch party, been provided with a phone, and allowed to use it to text in their votes instead of calling in and getting a busy signal like **I** was forced to do.
No AT&T reps in **my** town said "Hey, use this phone to txt for Adam." No AT&T reps did that for Adam fans at all. And THAT is WRONG.
So, so, SO glad someone is breaking this news... if for no other reason than so that such flagrant favoritism on the part of a main AI sponsor doesn't happen again.
I find the whole voting process suspect. When AI had 12 finalists, each person had one phone line. For the finals, each finalist had three phone lines. AT&T should at the very least opened all 12 phone lines available.
One phone line, one vote would be more valid.
However, because it is allowed, I voted for Adam for four solid hours after the finale. For the first three hours, all I got were busy signals, which I assumed meant the phone lines were flooded for votes for Adam.
Bloggers have noted that even though they had their phones programmed to dial set numbers, the call going through would thank them for voting for the other person.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter who won. It's what Adam or Kris does with the exposure that counts. However, I think the person who actually won should be acknowleged and that something like this should not be allowed to happen again.