Two American Idols

Joshua Klein of the Chicago Tribune was on hand for Ruben Studdard’s show at Auditorium Theatre Friday night and pointed out the separate tour from fellow ‘Idol’ stars Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson. Klein writes, “Contrary to stated intents, it seems there are actually two ‘American Idols,’ one white and one black, with Aiken’s fans overwhelmingly the former and Studdard’s fans the latter. But wasn’t the whole point of the ‘American Idol’ exercise to find someone who appealed to everyone? If the producers had any guts, they would put the guys on tour together rather than Aiken and Clarkson, pitting the rival Idols against each other once again and perhaps drawing a true cross-section of America rather than demographics cynically segregated into separate markets.”