"American Idol" contestants react to Mariah Carey
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Former American Idol judge Mariah Carey recently commented that her time on the show was "abusive", which has raised some eyebrows of former contestants who had a front row seat witnessing the tension up close.
"I'm honestly shocked she said that, because of all the times we were on the set filming and even when we got to the live shows she was always treated with respect and courtesy from the producers," said Idol alum Lazaro Arbos. "I think Nigel really admired her talent and always treated her like the queen and the legend that she is."
To recap Carey's remarks, the singer was speaking to journalists at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour on Wednesday (August 3), where she was promoting her eight-part upcoming E! docuseries, Mariah's World. In response to a reporter's question, the singer threw a major jab at the Fox show - for which she was a judge alongside rapper Nicki Minaj, country star Keith Urban and producer Randy Jackson during season 12 - calling it "an abusive experience" and cracking that talking about it would drive her "to drink".
Not missing a beat, producer Nigel Lythgoe responded with a thinly veiled reference to Carey's feud with Minaj. "I'm looking forward to Mariah's new series and wondering if Nicki Minaj may guest," the ex-executive producer told Billboard, alluding to the on-air disaster that was the singers' infamous verbal spat during auditions in 2011 and subsequent bad vibes that lasted all season long.
Arbos believes that Carey was not referring to the producers at all. "I think that Mariah made those comments of Idol being abusive in regards to her arguments and disagreements with Nicki Minaj, but honestly there was no need for all that," said Arbos, who is working on new music and looking into launching a cosmetics line. "I don't get why she felt that way because as far as I'm concerned she never really had to deal with Miss Minaj! She wasn't even required to talk to her at all, whatsoever!"
Season 12 crooner Devin Velez - who is working on music for a forthcoming EP and entertains audiences at events in Chicago - said he feels that Carey really did try to do her best while on the show. "I think Mariah definitely cared about her position as a judge," he said, adding that the tension between her and Minaj detracted some of the spotlight off of the matter at hand: assessing the contestants.
"I can see why that would be frustrating for Mariah," he said. "She wanted to do her job and smile for the cameras, but it's hard to do that when her fellow judges aren't doing their jobs."
Arbos said there are worse ways to be abused than judging a talent competition. "Her only job was to come in, sit down in a panel and give her comments to the singers and go home and get paid 18 million dollars," he said. "If that's abusive, then I really want to be abused by Idol!"
(Billboard)
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Mimi L. from Empower Your Highlighter wrote:
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Ouch, harsh but true. 18 million is a pretty sweet deal to get over the Nicki drama. But the very first jab at Nicki did come from Mariah when Mariah made the comment about Nicki's fluffy hat saying something about how she would bring her dog as a accessory too if she knew it was allowed and Nicki said "We said we'll play nice." Here is the footage and it was the first day of the audition round. Plus regardless of who did what, it has been 3 years Mariah, get over it really. Calling it abusive again and again, and belittling the word "abuse" is a little too much, even if she is joking. She can clearly go down the "it was fine, I probably won't be doing that again" route.
(Sunday 7 August 2016; 15:28)
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RibbonB from USA wrote:
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Yes, you said that about belittling the word abuse. Dahlink, she reallly must tone down the divahhh ahntics it's so ahbusive to her fans. Lol. Maybe she should switch to oppressive if she must be that dramatic, or like you said just move on from it.
(Sunday 7 August 2016; 16:22)
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90sMariah from SG wrote:
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Mariah is the queen of Petty, that's who she is.
(Sunday 7 August 2016; 16:41)
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ADAM from USA wrote:
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Mariah is ridiculous for still labeling this period as abusive. It's offensive because it diminishes the word abusive when there's really trouble at hand and also because she was paid 18 million dollars to show up and give an opinion. No one feels sorry for you. We all have coworkers we could care less about. You just need to suck it and and stop behaving like a brat. If I were staff or a contestant on Idol during that season, I'd be really annoyed at Mariah. And yes I think Mariah initiated and antagonized Nicki Minaj into that big fight. Because from the beginning before Idol, Nicki always respected Mariah. Mariah's insecurities manifested to the point that she had to behave catty toward Nicki because she couldn't handle being secure on the panel and that there was another woman. No excuses for this kind of behavior. I would have eventually snapped at Mariah if I were Nicki too.
(Sunday 7 August 2016; 16:56)
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Chicago Lamb from USA wrote:
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It looks like the feud started out like fun back/forth but then grew into something more toxic. Rivalry is better for ratings as the producers knew all too well.
(Sunday 7 August 2016; 17:32)
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Lee from USA wrote:
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She was right on. They threw money in her face, and stuck her with an ill-temper hoochie. The show was cancelled three years after she left. Unlike some folks on this message board, I don't agree with every hater in the media. If these people thought that Idol was so great, then they should be making money, not trolling our girl.
(Sunday 7 August 2016; 17:59)
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Lamb_O_Chop from Australia wrote:
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But she's telling the truth. Yes she was the highest paid judge and it was three years ago, but they did mislead her into thinking he'd be the only female judge, they instigated and encourage the Nicki drama, they'd always cut her off/start playing music half way through her critiques. And let's not forget the secret plot to replace her with JLo (of all people) in the middle of the season (as reported by radar.com). It's like they begged and pleaded with her to do the show all this time, just to jerk her around. You don't treat a respect legend like that period. I noticed the abuse just from watching it on tv, so I'm sure it was even worse being there. That contestant can't speak for Mariah's experience I'm sure he was in his own world trying to win the competition. Sometimes it's not about the money, it's about respecting someone's worth and not dragging into a messy situation. Even though I could use the 18 mill  , I'm sure when you're Mariah Carey your brand is more important. She could always make money just from her celebrity status. Now I will say, I wish she would've never gave into doing the show or backed out when she saw that they didn't honor her wishes, because when you agree to do sometime you just have to make the best of however bad the situation is.
(Sunday 7 August 2016; 18:06)
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TJ from Norway wrote:
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Why on earth was it that important to her to be the only female judge?
(Monday 8 August 2016; 0:56)
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Mimi L. from Empower Your Highlighter wrote:
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"I wish she would've never gave into doing the show or backed out when she saw that they didn't honor her wishes, because when you agree to do sometime you just have to make the best of however bad the situation is." This is what I feel too. She could have backed out if it bothered her so much. Regardless, what happened has happened three years ago, Mariah has faced worse real abuse in her life. She can surely move past this and dismiss it with a simple "It's just something I wish I wasn't a part of". But going to interviews calling her co-workers Satan, and calling the experience abusive is a tad dramatic. I agree that they shouldn't have added a 4th judge when they didn't do it for Paula and JLo (both before and after Mariah), but surely Mariah got wind of it before she stepped on the promo round? If it bothered her, she had the option of throwing the money on their faces and walked out, she really doesn't need it. Going on and on about it, she is burning bridges with a lot of big names (and no I'm not talking about Nicki). Mariah faced more humiliation with her Rockefeller incident of complaining and burning bridges, she is back to NBC right? That is a professional move. The Radar rumor is something I don't really buy, I don't think they are reputable and at that time everyone was trying to come up with conspiracies to add more fuel to the drama. Anyways I respect your point of view Lamb O' Chop. I always appreciate calm collected thoughts and responses instead of people with one liners saying "I don't agree with the haters like some people on this message board" and then fail to provide a solid argument or even a defense. You are definitely one of my favorites on the board even though we may disagree on things.
(Monday 8 August 2016; 1:37)
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Mimi L. from Empower Your Highlighter wrote:
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Correction, I mean "with her Rockefeller incident and instead of complaining and burning bridges".
(Monday 8 August 2016; 2:42)
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Shezz from Pk wrote:
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They added Kara Diguardi as a judge while Paula was still there and they got along great and then Ellen was there with Kara but of course Ellen isn't exactly like adding a typical female. I remember Mariah tweeting her disappointment when they added another female judge. She probably decided to try to make it work. We all know very well how she can't let go off things and be diplomatic anymore. Hell hath no fury like a diva scorned. 
(Monday 8 August 2016; 5:33)
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Lee from USA wrote:
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Well, you just proved my point. Mimi, you act as if Mariah is killing her career by speaking out about a show that screwed over tons of people. If you don't believe me, then ask most of the winners. AI made its own bed, and yet you are miffed about Mimi saying anything about it. I do not need to write a whole novel on my views. I am calling like I have seen it for years and years.
(Monday 8 August 2016; 6:33)
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Mimi L. from Empower Your Highlighter wrote:
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I am not trying to act like Mariah's career will end because of AI. I don't even care about AI, and even Mariah being on the show didn't give me an incentive to watch it, because honestly it's not my type. No where did I say, if Mariah doesn't do this, she'll flop away. I said that it's been 3 years, she has been through worse and so she should just let it go at this point. She has made it very clear that she didn't enjoy it, no one will forget that, so at this point she can just take the high road and not give it more headlines/interview time than it already got. I don't think a person of her legendary status needs to keep calling a reality show abusive and call her co-workers Satan. Complaining about it whenever it is mentioned won't really do much. Because all people are hearing is "Oh I had to tolerate Nicki's outrageous behavior for a mere 18 million dollars." It's just not a good look. That's all I said.
(Monday 8 August 2016; 10:37)
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Licia from USA wrote:
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I also never understood what the big issue was with there being another female judge. It should not have mattered who the other judges were. Just go do what you're paid to do and go home. I agree that Mariah needs to stop answering these AI questions in the way that she has been. As you can see her comments are being blown out of proportion by the media. There's nothing wrong with saying "AI is an experience that if given the opportunity again I would not repeat" and leaving it at that. Even though we as fans know she's joking, the general public and the media will always go that extra mile to use her words in a way to make her look bad. Just like the J.Lo situation, she continues to give them ammunition and as long as she continues to give those type of answers they will continue ask about it because drama is what they want.
(Monday 8 August 2016; 16:13)
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TJ from Norway wrote:
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I agree with you. 
(Tuesday 9 August 2016; 11:58)
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