I found this story at Foxnews.com
Ryan Seacrest Says Show ‘Didn’t Want to Risk’ Joanna Pacitti Staying On ‘American Idol’

Here’s a quote from Ryan Seacrest.
“The producers do the background checks right around [the] Hollywood [round],” Seacrest said. “When they see something that stands out, they have to address it. And they saw something, and there was apparently some sort of a link that, somewhere along the line, could be construed as one that’s close to the competition, and they didn’t want to risk it.” End quote.

Ok, so lets do a background check on this Ryan Seacrest/Foxnews blurb.

Part 1. “The producers do the background checks right around [the] Hollywood [round],”

Does Ryan Seacrest think that what America watched wednesday night was a live broadcast? It wasn’t, it was “Hollywood (Round) Week” and it was filmed months ago. Why does this matter? If American Idol did background checks during Hollywood Week then shouldn’t Idol have known about Joanna Pacitti’s “some sort of a link” before the season even started?

Part 2. “When they see something that stands out, they have to address it.”

The problem is that we American’s have watched 3 weeks of cattle call auditions plus 2 weeks of Hollywood Week. And don’t forget…at least 2 nights each week with a few 2 hour episodes for fun and profit…that’s at least 14 hours of television, and not one word about Joanna Pacitti being a “risk”. I guess American Idol producers forgot to “address it” to the shows editor, cause Jo-Pac was featured quite a bit, almost like someone who was going to make the top 36.

Part 3. “And they saw something, and there was apparently some sort of a link that, somewhere along the line, could be construed as one that’s close to the competition”

America Idol has had 1 full month of shows to “address it” but chose instead to wait until AFTER the final episode of Hollywood Week before disqualifying her, allowing 25 million America’s to keep believing that this girl would/had make/made the top 36.

Part 4. “and they didn’t want to risk it.”

Not much of a “risk” when you knew all along how this would end.

So …Joanna Pacitti can’t be in the show’s top 36 because of “some sort of a link”, but she CAN be used as controversial publicity over this link until the show goes live?

Oh, Joanna Pacitti was a plant alright….just not the kind everyone thought.
Nope, she was a weed to be pulled and discarded. But even weeds have their uses.

Ever hear of compost?

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Hollywood week was filmed last month. It’s that she didn’t disclose her close personal relationship with two 19 Entertainment executives, not the fact that she’s had a recording contract in the past.

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Oh this was deliberate—on Pacitti’s part. She deliberately did not disclose her relationship because it would disqualify her. But like you said, she’s not had this much publicity since she sued Annie producers when she was 11. She’s got publicity—she especially is comfortable playing the “victim” role to the hilt —she’ll likely sue, and she’s still got those close ties with 19 Entertainment executives. It was always going to be a win-win for Joanna.

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“Hollywood week was filmed last month.”
Paula Abdul did an interview with Billy Bush of Access Hollywood and told Billy that she was at the Hollywood week auditions when Paula Goodspeed died and according to Paula Abdul’s Wiki page Paula Goodspeed died November 11, 2008. Ryan Seacrest said that Hollywood week was when Idol did the background checks so Idol has known for 3 months now.

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