Christian Newswire director Gary McCullough claims Fox's decision to appoint a "lesbian activist" to the Idol judging panel resulted in the show's slow erosion of viewership. Here lie some of McCullough's most offensive claims:
DeGeneres' "Yes, I have loved a woman," comment from the May 11th show, was the most obvious lesbian-one-liner, but it wasn't the only one, and it is hurting the show's ratings. I can hear the bloggers loading their homophobe-blasters, but think this through with me. If one of the judges was an abortion activist, or a political right winger -- and continued to insert comments in line with their activism -- the same criticism would be true, and the show would suffer. The advice, "Shut up and sing!" comes to mind.
At this moment in entertainment history, network television is on a pro-homosexuality bender. The producers of American Idol chose to be a part of this push; it was a huge mistake. The consequences of this choice were a drop in market share and a reduction in advertising dollars. While many entertainers who profess an alternate sexual lifestyle are individually accepted and enjoyed by the public -- when sexual behavior becomes their identifying trait in a specific broadcast, it limits the audience they will draw.
Beyond that, it actually drives away a significant market share of parents and teens who used to watch the show together, until mom and dad decided that the subtle promotion of an "alternate lifestyle" to their kids was not worth the entertainment trade off. Sorry Ellen, you're just not worth it.
And here's the kicker:
Network television producers may or may not stop promoting homosexuality; but for certain they will learn to keep homosexual activism separate from the cash-cow of "family entertainment." There is of course the insane possibility that Hollywood will forsake ratings - and the dollars that follow - and continue down the path of change. Perhaps next we will see the pro-pedophilia group NAMBLA use its influence in Hollywood to have "Dancing with the Stars" seat Roman Polanski as a judge.
First off, I think we can all agree that American Idol's ratings started dropping long before Ellen DeGeneres joined the judging panel. If Idol's lowest finale ratings happened to coincide with Ellen's term, that has nothing to do with her sexuality or her "lesbian one-liners." Not everyone can be Paula.
Before forming his claim, McCullough must not have considered Ellen's talk show either -- which is currently on its seventh season thanks to viewers who care more about the talent than the sexual orientation of their television personalities.
And oh yeah, if Fox viewers have such a problem with programming that champions "alternate lifestyles", then they wouldn't be tuning into the network's breakout hit Glee. And in turn, Fox would not have ordered a second and third season of the series already.
Besides, I think we all know that Idol's dwindling numbers are part of Simon Cowell's master plan for world domination, right?