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‘American Idol’: Jermaine Jones’ dismissal angers fans

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Jermaine Jones was called the gentle giant, but his criminal past (and four outstanding warrants) meant he couldn’t remain part of this season’s ‘American Idol’ hopefuls.

In an awkward on-camera meeting on Wednesday night’s show, ‘Idol’ executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick told Jones he could no longer remain with the program. As Warwick said, ‘You’ve put us in a very delicate position, really.’

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So Jones was off the show and an otherwise ho-hum season of ‘Idol’ was suddenly injected with a bit of drama.

But the way Jones’ dismissal was handled could backfire for the show. Despite the pre-broadcast publicity, ratings for Wednesday’s episode were down 5% from last week. But since TV overall was down about the same amount - most tv analysts blame Daylight Savings Time - ‘Idol’ still won the night. Still, the promise of criminal drama on the show failed to boost the show in the ratings.

For the most part, the fans aren’t upset that Jones was removed from the program, but they have taken issue with how the situation was handled.

One Cincinnati fan smelled a conspiracy, writing, ‘Okay so I have mixed feelings. Do you think Jermaine Jones release from #American Idol was about ratings? I think they knew about his past.’

Fan Arfah Rahmanita wrote, ‘Sad to know Jermaine leave @AmericanIdol i disagree how you guys treat him and humiliate him on national televison.Is just for a rating?? :(‘

Canadian fan Matthew Bowen also took issue with how Jones was treated on the show, writing, ‘I thought it was kind of gross for American Idol to confront Jermaine Jones on tape like that. They need to confront their judges about that.’

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Fan Terrence J wrote, ‘Catching up on Idol. Not a fan of how they handled the Jermaine Jones situation.’

To which another fan, Ms. Williams, wrote, ‘My thought exactly, that was unprofessional.’

And Rick Lawrence tweeted directly at ‘Idol,’ ‘There was no reason to humiliate Jermaine on public tv. All that need to be said was he had been disqualified.’

Longview, Texas, resident Torri Thomas-Snoddy concurred with the prevailing opinion among fans, writing, ‘I think it was tacky of #AmericanIdol to put Jermaine Jones business out there last night...’

RELATED:

Jermaine Jones disqualified from show

Jermaine Jones is out as final 11 perform

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Complete Show Tracker coverage of ‘American Idol’

-- Patrick Kevin Day

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