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Posts: 1666
05/28/2009 12:49 AM
According to a story in the New York Times, Kris Allen may have overtaken Lambert with a little outside help from employees of AT&T, an "American Idol" sponsor.
They apparently provided free text-messaging services and offered lessons on how to power text 10 or more votes with the press of a single button at two Kris Allen parties in the singer's home state of Arkansas after the final performance episode Tuesday, June 19. No similar efforts by AT&T representatives appear to have been undertaken on behalf of Lambert, the singer the judges were pimping hard to take it all.
What makes this accusations especially damning is the fact that AT&T is the only mobile phone network a viewer can use to text a vote to "Idol."
In a statement issued Tuesday, an AT&T representative said, "In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community. A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested."
According to an Entertainment Weekly story, AT&T has since gone on to vow that "going forward, we will make sure our employees understand our sponsorship celebrates the competition, not individual contestants. That said, it's quite a leap to suggest that a few individuals could have impacted the final results." Fox.
Reactions at perezhilton.com ranged from "I knew it was rigged" and "You have to add that people from church youth groups were having voting parties against the (expletive)" to "I can't believe you are stupid enough to believe 2 small parties in Arkansas decided AI. Get the gay blinders off" and "Well, at least we aren't hearing about Miss CA anymore."
http://www.azcentral.com/...20090527idolrigging.html
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