Monday, March 30, 2009

They did Jorge Nuñez a favor


It’s been a few weeks since it happened, so I think I can finally talk about it without being overly biased. Ok so I did not like seeing a fellow Puerto Rican booted off American Idol when I clearly saw at least three people that sucked twice as bad as Jorge. True, it may be a bit fruity on my behalf to get into American Idol, but blame my girlfriend for getting me hooked and enjoying our comboed color commentary during the show.



So imagine my surprise this season when I saw a fellow islander on the show, displaying a vocal range that caught my attention and actually had me thinking he might at least make it to the top ten. Eh…. How about no. In a showcase of the BS that can be the judging panel when they want something they aren’t sure the viewers will give, Jorge Nuñez got slammed three weeks ago for doing a rendition of a Michael Jackson song that screamed cheese. True, it’s not the best song selection, but seriously, was it THAT awful. Hell I remember hearing other people and cringing while I saw Jorge pull out a solid vocal on a song that wasn’t the best. But uh-uh, Kara D’skanky and company felt the need to rip Jorge a new one for a poor song choice. It wasn’t that his vocals were off, it wasn’t that he’s a lousy showman, it wasn’t even that he looks like a Puerto Rican Nosferatu was any problem, it’s just that the song was wrong and they’d had enough of good ole George.

Naturally I was skeptical at the judges’ reviews and naturally I was disappointed to him getting the boot so early. But there’s something good that came out of all this, at least he didn’t have to go to Country week, naturally one of any season’s low points simply because country isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But seeing Jorge’s questionable selection on MJ week, I’m almost afraid to see what he was going to pull off on country week, so lets give thanks he was shown mercy in that case.

What I did have a problem with though is the general lack of Jorge love on behalf of the production cast. Everyone was bauling over Jazmine and she even got more onscreen time than people that were still in the competition, and Jorge was almost a sidenote. Compare any performance between these two and you should wonder what the hell is going on.


I know Jorge is Puerto Rican by nature and gets tongue tied whenever he has to talk in English to 30 million viewers, but come on, he deserved more praise than what he got.

But for his part, Jorge took it all in stride and showed that the kid isn’t a dummy, he’s got class and if he plays his cards right, he can make a legitimate run in the music industry, maybe even broadway, cuz the kid can sing and he’s quite likeable compared to other karaoke stars that somehow got the nod to move forward.

So here’s to Jorge, for showcasing that the little island has big heart, for being true to his nature, for taking everything in stride, for being a likeable cat and for doing PR proud, even if the “audience” didn’t support him onto a couple more weeks of silky smooth Rican licks.

Cheers man

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