Harry Connick, Jr. seems like an easy-going, laid-back kind of guy — until you get him riled up, that is.
American Idol contestant Quentin Alexander found that out the hard way during last night’s performance episode when he made a few “disrespectful”; comments that rubbed the judge the wrong way — and he let the wannabe singer know it.
After his performance, Alexander (who, like Connick, is from New Orleans), gestured to two of his fellow contestants singled out for possible elimination and said, “This sucks. We’ve got two of the best vocalists, my best friend, sitting over there. This whole thing is wack, but I’m going to shut up right now.”;
As host Ryan Seacrest attempted to calm things down, Connick was seething. “I don’t understand that at all, I don’t get that. Are we on commercial?”; he asked.
“No, we’re live,”; replied Seacrest, while JLo and Keith Urban looked on awkwardly.
“Good,”; said Connick. “Quentin, if it’s that wack, then you can always go home, because Idol is paying a lot of money to give you this experience and for you to say that to this hand that is feeding you right now, I think is highly disrespectful.”;
Stone-faced Alexander stormed off the stage and strode over to the judge’s table, standing inches away from Connick. “When I was saying this is wack, I wasn’t saying this [meaning the whole show] is wack. That is wack,”; he said, pointing to the two singers sitting onstage.
“What’s wack?”; retorted Connick. “It’s a competition.”;
Alexander tried to clarify what he was trying to say. “For my personal feelings, it sucks to see two people who I’ve grown to love go home,”; he said. “That’s what I mean is wack. I’m not disrespecting this competition.”;
“That wasn’t clear,”; said Connick.
“I’m glad I got to clarify it for you,”; replied the singer as he glared at the judge, ending one of American Idol“s all-time most cringe-worthy exchanges.
