A few weeks ago “American Idol” producers snubbed Clay Aiken when he showed up on the set unannounced. Clay apparently thought they’d roll out the red carpet, but instead they quickly whisked him around backstage and waved goodbye. Clay wanted to give a pep talk to the finalists – a notion the producers quickly disabused him of. They’ve had a long-running beef with him for leaving the “American Idol” management firm, and getting Kelly Clarkson to join him.

Instead of accepting the tit for tat, Clay took to his blog last night (which you can only access by paying $30 a year for some super Claymate membership) to slam the show for generally sucking. He’s got a lot of beefs with the judges, the contestants, and the show on the whole, which he believes has become too commercialized and doesn’t focus enough on finding raw talent. Instead Clay says they look for people that are already perfect – and thus there’s little room for improvement throughout the course of the competition.

I think many voters got sick of being “told who to vote for”. I think many were turned off by the blatant favoritism shown towards one contestant. Therefore, on that last night, they used their votes against a contestant that they were tired of hearing about and for the contestant who had been written off. And, at the same time, I think they voted AGAINST an American Idol that has, for four years now, been more about the slick productions and polished contestants than it has been about finding the raw talent that it did in its first three seasons.

Those votes for Kris were also votes to return the show to its roots of finding “real” contestants with undiscovered talent and giving them the chance to grow and shine. They were votes that said “we’re tired of seeing contestants who already seem to know it all”.

Will American Idol choose to listen to the resounding and clarion call that those voters gave them?…. “Enough with the pretention. More Rubens, more Clays, more Fantasias and Tamyras and Kellys please.” My faith has always been in the voters. I think they have gotten it right every year (mine included). It’s now up to American Idol to decide if it will finally REALLY listen to the folks that keep it on the air.

[From Clay Aiken’s blog via Gawker]

Clay’s also not a fan of Adam Lambert. In a big, big way. Apparently Lambert makes Clay’s ears bleed. Which is funny, given that a lot of people feel that way about Clay’s singing. He then tries to temper the comment by saying other people he trusts like Lambert, and he only saw one of his performances. But apparently that was enough to set his opinion in stone. He also says “Idol” is just as much a personality competition as a music one, and he’s not into Adam Lambert on both levels.

Now that it’s all over, and for the record…. I couldn’t be happier about the way AI ended this year. I only turn the show on once a season, and only to see what the set looks like each year. This year, I happened to turn it during the minute that Adam Lambert was singing “Ring of Fire” and, at that moment, thought my ears would bleed. Contrived, awful, and slightly frightening! I wasn’t really a fan and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him. Granted, I never saw another performance (and many folks who I trust said that he was great) but I can’t imagine I would have enjoyed it. Just not my cup of tea at all. To each his own. I never saw Kris sing on the show, but whether he was good or not is really relative. It’s usually a matter of taste, right? But Idol is not always a matter of musical taste only. It’s about the person you like. From what little I saw, Kris seemed likable. (That’s not to say that Adam isn’t just as likable as anyone.. maybe more so… I don’t know) When Ruben and I were standing next to each other every night (many years ago) you had two equally talented, equally unlikely, equally unpolished contestants…. so it really was a matter of taste as to who was voted for. While some may argue that one of us was hyped more than the other, I don’t feel that was the case. However, this year, there was an obvious bias. Not even having watched the show, I can tell you that I was WELL aware of the bias from the judges as to who should win. In my opinion, that is awfully unattractive. I don’t think I am alone

In my opinion, it all often comes down to that last night of voting. Until the finale, folks are voting for the contestant that they want to see continue. But, I believe that on that last night, the dynamic changes. No longer forced to choose one person that they want to see win, the audience can effectively vote AGAINST the person that they don’t want to see win. In the case of season two this might have happened. There may have been some folks who voted for myself or Ruben because they didn’t like the other of us. I was the nerdy little girly boy who some didn’t want to see win, so they may have voted for Ruben. I don’t know. .. But again, I feel that Ruben and I were fairly matched. We both had our detractors and negatives, but I feel we were both very worthy of being on that stage in that moment, and either of us would have been worthy of winning. The show was different then, and folks made it in seasons 1-3 because they were “real” people who happened to sing/entertain well. But, somewhere along the way, AI stopped being about real people.

[From Clay Aiken’s blog via Gawker]

My favorite part was how Clay only tunes in once a year to see the set. What a strange but funny insult.

I’ve generally found “American Idol” to be far too cheesy to watch. I can handle excessive violence and sexuality, but excessive cheese is something I just cannot bear. Clay’s career is sort of at a standstill right now. He hasn’t faded into oblivion like some former contestants, and he got great reviews in “Spamalot.” But he seems to think he’s this pillar of show business who’s in a position to mentor AI contestants and snipe at producers for not running the show to his liking. It seems like he’s turning his attention to critiquing everyone else instead of himself.

Here’s Clay Aiken emerging from the “Byron & Tracey” hair salon in Beverly Hills with a new hairdo on April 25th. Images thanks to Pacific Coast News.