UPDATE: Simon Cowell told Extra, “She’ll be fine. She’ll be on the show. I don’t get a lot of say. I’ve just made it clear that I want Paula on the show.”

Did Ryan Seacrest’s $45 million paycheck leave Paula Abdul with chump change?

Although Paula Abdul declared that American Idol was something she’d always “want to be a part of,” her manager recently told the Los Angeles Times that a return was starting to look doubtful. “Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on Idol,” David Sonenberg stated.

According to David, Abdul hasn’t even been given an option to turn down. “I have not received any proposal whatsoever,” Sonenberg claimed. “I find it under these circumstances particularly unusual; I think unnecessarily hurtful. I find it kind of unconscionable and certainly rude and disrespectful that they haven’t stepped up and said what they want to do,” he added.

Could this be why Kara DioGuardi’s fate is still up in the air? The producers might not believe there are suitable replacements for Simon Cowell or Seacrest, but they may be keeping Abdul’s waiting in the wings.

Until the negotiations are finalized, Paula supporters on Twitter have begun adding #KeepPaula to the end of their tweets.

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