It has recently come to my attention that the wildly popular talent show "American Idol" may have a bias against the old, the heavy and the homely. The minimum age limit is sixteen, and the upper age limit is twenty-eight. I don't know why the upper age limit is twenty-eight. I'm sure a lot of potentially successful would-be professional singers could be either under sixteen or over twenty-eight. I don't know about those under sixteen, since most of those are legally required to still be in school ( whether they want to be or not), but as for those over twenty-eight; I'm sure there may be grounds for age discrimination over this arbitrary age limit.
For instance, one recent contestant named 'General Larry Platt at I believe the Atlanta auditions apparently made up his own song entitled: "Pants On The Ground". He may or may not have sang it as a joke, but three of the judges started singing along and Simon Cowell even said it could be a hit song. Simon killed the contestant's dream though when the sixty-two year old was declared "too old for the competition".
In a similar recent audition a heavy contestant known for her so-called "boob flex" seemed to faint and a moment later got up and started singing. I'm no expert, but in my estimation, she had a very good voice. Anyway, perhaps for pretending to faint, or more likely for her weight, she was sent home packing.
I have only been watching "Idol" regularly for a couple of years, but most women finalists are young, thin and attractive. While most male contestants are also relatively young and thin. The only really heavy contestant I can think of is Jennifer Hudson, who went on to great success in music and film. Saying "American Idol(s)" are only age sixteen to twenty-eight is to me like saying the "World Series" really represents the whole world rather than just the United States and Canada plus a smattering of Dominican, Asian and international players.
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