Here’s the thing: You can get away with a few little white lies on your résumé if you’re applying to, say, a remote Applebee’s in some God-forsaken strip mall off the interstate. But when you are auditioning for one of the most powerful brands in the entire universe, a brand that has billions of dollars at their disposal to make sure nothing happens to tarnish their reputation, you should probably be up front with anything that might bite you on the butt later.
It seems “American Idol” contestant Jermaine Jones didn’t get this memo. The top 12 finalist was disqualified from the show after the powers-that-be learned he’d kept his criminal background under wraps, having four outstanding arrest warrants in his home state of New Jersey and a history of using multiple fake names with cops. And so executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick fired him on national TV Wednesday night, Donald Trump-style.
However, the drama leading up to the evening (blogs have been buzzing with the Jones news since The Smoking Gun uncovered his unsavory past) did nothing to boost the show’s ratings. In fact, viewership was down 5 percent from last week.
