American Idol’s Latest Scandal - Joanna Out, Felicia In

I promised in my recap of last night’s American Idol that I’d have more of the story later today, so here’s what we know up to this point of the stunning news early this morning that Joanna Pacitti was out as a semi-finalist and Felicia Barton is in.

Since Joanna’s audition there has been a lot of chatter about her previous record deals. Kara DioGuardi recognized her the moment she walked in, saying she remembered her. The question was, as it was for Carly Smithson and at least one other contestant every season, does she deserve another shot at fame, when so many others have never had a shot at all? Fans of the show were steadfast in their opinion, saying this just wasn’t fair.

Joanna kept getting further and further, and it just upset everyone more and more. Last night she was named one of the final 36 contestants, refueling the argument. We woke up this morning to the news that she had been inexplicably replaced in the final 36 by Felicia Barton, yet we had no idea why, but knew it certainly had something to do with her previous connections in the business.

Doing a little snooping around today on this subject, this is what I have turned up. According to E!, As we already knew, Joanna had been signed to A&M records at one point and even released a single. Some of her music appeared on soundtracks of Legally Blonde and First Daughter. But there was more to it than just that, as other Idols have released albums in the past as well.

In the same E! article, they stated that Star magazine had reported a “serious conflict of interest.” Pacitti lived in the same apartment building as 19 executives Roger Widynowski and Michelle Young, and once referred to Roger as her “best friend.” Obviously the other contestants wouldn’t see that as completely fair for Joanna to be borrowing sugar from Rog and Shelly, then talking up her song choices of the week.

MSNBC offers up even more background on Joanna. She has dated Dancing With the Stars professional Mark Ballas before. They had met when he was training Kristi Yamaguchi. Mark is due to release an album along with fellow DWTS pro Derek Hough in March. Their first single is a song that was co-written by Kara DioGuardi. Suddenly it comes to light exactly why Kara recognized her.

In addition, MSNBC had some other interesting tidbits. Joanna appeared in Annie on Broadway at the age of 11, but was replaced when she got bronchitis. Her mother filed suit to the tune of $50 million, but later settled out of court. Will they now be suing Fox?

Just as one controversy is coming to a close, another is beginning. Some fans are wondering why Joanna was replaced by Felicia instead of one of the females who was forced to endure a “sing-off” only to be let go anyway. Felicia had been told it wasn’t unanimous, but she never got another chance to sing. I can only figure on demographics, as both Joanna and Felicia have a similar look. Regardless, if you were one of the ones in a sing-off and eliminated, you’d certainly be questioning it this morning.

Photo courtesy of Fox

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For more information on American Idol, see SirLinksalot: American Idol and American Idol Headlines.