Public Enemy American Idol No. 1

Over at her Deadline Hollywood Daily column, Nikki Finke charts all the controversies swirling around American Idol contestant Tom Lowe.

Her piece begins:

American Idol 6 would be nothing without its controversy. The latest: 28-year-old ex-British boy-band'er Tom Lowe is the target of not just one but four controversies, which is a rarity even for that Fox show. Allegations include that Lowe is too successful, or too well-connected, to compete fairly on the show. Then there's the fact this runner-up "Britain Choirboy of the Year" posed nude (with all the appropriate places covered) for a trendy British magazine. A college interview presents him as the first "out" gay American Idol contestant. There are headlines how he's had influential helpers -- so influential that the British press alleges one of them may be Simon Cowell himself, and the Boston Herald says the other is the Massachusetts Tourism Board. But there's also another issue: just what, exactly, is American Idol supposed to be? Is it an obvious avenue for finding undiscovered talent (like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood)? Or is it a shrewd method of banking on a sure thing (like Taylor Hicks, who'd already put out an album pre-Idol). And what about the show's forced notion of "wholesomeness"?

Tom Lowe . . . Tom Lowe . . . why does that name sound familiar? Oh, yeah: Tom Lowe was also the name of the GOP operator who alleged he banged a chick on then-Assemblyman (now Anaheim Mayor) Curt Pringle's desk at the state Capitol, something Lowe detailed in his June 26, 1996, story for us, "I Was a Gigolo for the GOP" (which I'd link you to if only I could).

The same Tom Lowe? Nawwwww . . . the GOP gigolo Tom Lowe was a mezzo-soprano.