David Archuleta and the Stage Dad Rumor

I am one who happens to think that the rumors on his dad affected people's vote on this season's American Idol. I, for one, thought that it gave other people the chance to "not like" the sweet faced young kid.

The rumors started when Naomi Judd who was a judge from a show (Star Search) where David previously was a contestants was reported to have said that the dad [Jeff Archuleta] was "the worst stage dad". This was then followed by reports that his father was banned from the backstage of the American Idol show for having a hand on the change in the lyrics of the song "Stand by Me" that David sang causing AI producers additional money in song rights, whatever.

Somehow, the banning by AI, corroborated (in people's mind) and made it look that the dad was somehow "evil". In a way, giving David a bad publicity and making people pause and think before voting for him. I would think people (especially the older folks) stopped and wonder, "If I vote for David A, would I be rewarding the dad too, Hmmmm..."

It's a Shame
I like the Archuleta kid. I thought he gave the better performance in the finale. It's a shame as the rumor affected his votes (I think). The rumor was certainly a distraction but is David's dad really a stage dad? or was it circulated just to give American Idol additional drama, other juicy and newsworthy "scandal".

I don't think David will grow up the way he has shown to us if not because of his parent's upbringing. David has been sweet, humble and full of enthusiasm. Give that credit to the parents for a good upbringing. The father and son relationship is one of the best type of relationship in the world. In my view, the dad was misunderstood. David seems to be unmindful of the all the talks about his dad. Good for him.

Below are some reactions from David Archuleta himself:
"I heard one thing where [my dad, Jeff] refused to give me water or something like that and that’s the weirdest thing," the American Idol runner-up said Friday in a conference call with reporters. "I mean, I am 17 and you know, if I want water, I am pretty sure I would just go get it anyway."

"He understood that I didn’t like to hear anything going on in the news about me, good or bad, because I didn’t want it to distract me or let it go to my head or anything like that because I just wanted to stay myself as I was at the beginning of the competition before all this happened,"

In the end, good thing American Idol is now over, we can now see who among this crop of talented contestants will go on and have great singing (or showbiz) careers. Kudos to all contestants and the Top 24: David Cook, David Archuleta, Syesha Mercado, Amanda Overmyer, Carlie Smithson, David Hernandez, Jason Castro, Ramiel Malubay, Kristie Lee Cook, Michael Johns, Alaina Whitaker, Alexandria Lushington, Amy Davis, Colton Berry, Danny Noriega, Garrett Haley, Jason Yeager, Joanne Borgella, Kady Malloy, Luke Menard, Robbie Carrico, Brooke White, Chakizee, of course, Asia'h Epperson.