Fox Defends Paula Abdul

Fox has issued a statement standing behind Paula Abdul, after the ‘American Idol’ judge appeared on several Fox affiliates touting the network’s flagship show’s season kickoff on Tuesday and appearing to be overly medicated. “All of us at Fox have tremendous respect and admiration for Paula Abdul,” the statement reads. “She is a consummate professional who always gives 100% to everything she does. Last week, during a satellite press tour there were intermittent technical difficulties, including severe audio issues in which multiple stations were speaking to her at once. Rather than getting angry about these difficulties, or stopping the tour, Paula forged ahead and decided to have fun with the increasingly challenging situation. Unfortunately, because reporters and viewers were unaware of the situation, her humor was misconstrued.”