'American Idol' contestant exits show amid video controversy

[MissMillie]

A 16-year-old “American Idol” contestant has dropped out of the singing competition after a video circulated of him sitting next to someone wearing what appears to be a Ku Klux Klan hood.

Caleb Kennedy, advanced into the Top 5, apologized for the video on Twitter and Instagram on Wednesday, saying “it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way.”

Kennedy's mother, Anita Guy, told the Herald-Journal that the video was filmed when Kennedy was 12 and had been taken out of context. She said Kennedy had been imitating characters from the film “The Strangers: Prey at Night.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/other/american-idol-contestant-exits-show-amid-video-controversy/ar-BB1gHbpt?li=BBorjTa

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I'm sure there will be cries of "cancel culture," but it appears he dropped out on his own accord.

[underpants]

1. Anita Guy

Sorry that mad me giggle

[Probatim]

2. Her half sister is Amanda Hold.

[dweller]

3. She sounds nice

Wonder if she’s single ?
🤔

✌🏻

[EYESORE 9001]

12. Another relative

Ophelia Bawls

[underpants]

21. Hmm

What about Mike Hawk?

[EYESORE 9001]

22. Not to be confused with...

Mike Hunt

[TreasonousBastard]

4. While I would have little problem with every Klan member and sympathizer being...

"sent to the cornfield", Some of these things are just overreacting. A 12 year old sitting next to a "Klansman" in an old picture gets him to give up a dream?

As it is, it does not sit well.

And as far as him deciding himself to drop out, somehow I think he had a lot of help.

[Dan]

8. I agree, and I would not let him drop out.

[stonecutter357]

9. I'm sure there will be more video.

[cinematicdiversions]

11. But that is my point...

I don't actually buy his story. It looked like a Klan hood to me.

Here are The Strangers: Prey at Night masks







Pretty awful movie by the way


But again, he was what in that video? 12 years old? Are we really going to prevent someone from having a career for a lapse of judgement as a 12-year-old?

It's not like he tortured a dog or burned a house down or even joined the Klan. He was sitting next to someone wearing a clan hood goofing.

[blm]

14. Really? That's your reaction?

“Cancel culture”.

Odd POV.

[cinematicdiversions]

16. 12 year old does something stupid is not a reason to force someone of a show. NT

[blm]

17. I didn't say it was, but, YOU call it "cancel culture"

[StarfishSaver]

28. It's a talent show. He doesn't have any entitlement to be there

Last edited Sat May 15, 2021, 11:12 PM - Edit history (1)

If he can be voted off by anonymous people texting in for any reason from they don't like his mullet to they think his singing sucks, and anything in between, the producers certainly have every right to drop him for any reason they like.

Black kids get shot by the police and people justify it because they supposedly did something stupid. This is a good example of how white kids get second chances that minority kids can only dream of.

He's not a victim.

Sheesh.

[MissMillie]

19. No, It's not my reaction

I was saying it was going to be the GOP reaction.

I haven't seen the video, so I don't know that the hood was a KKK hod. I did see the pictures posted in this thread of the masks in the movie mentioned in the article (I haven't seen the movie) and I don't see how they could be confused with a KKK hood.

I also agree that if it really is nothing, the kid should have stuck it out. (Let me add, I watch the show and thought the kid should have been eliminated a while ago.)


I'm guessing either the kid feels guilty about something, OR he's being made to feel guilty about something. I didn't see any PUBLIC pressure being put on him, or any PUBLIC pressure being put on American Idol to get rid of him.

[blm]

23. Not you, MissM

The post I replied to called it cancel culture using it the way RightWing propagandists use it.

[StarfishSaver]

27. Circliing the wagons ...

[blm]

30. ✔️

[BoringUsername]

6. Problem is most people haven't heard of The Strangers: Prey at Night

But they have heard of the Ku Klux Klan. That's what it looks like. Parents need to advise kids against uploading this kind of stuff on the internet. Says he was 12 at the time. I understand a 12 year old probably isn't thinking like that. I have a kid about that age. Parents should not let their young kids post stuff online on their own. It needs to be reviewed by an adult because kids will get themselves in trouble with stuff like this. It's a shame.

[tirebiter]

7. I'm imagining

A young Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor doing that as a bit. It’d be called groundbreaking.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

10. Big difference between obvious satire and someone in the south.

I get that he's 12, but Wilder and Prior were clearly doing satire.

[RegularJam]

13. At some point the adults in the room need to stand up.

Maybe the producers and on-air personalities know more. As stated, it would be nice for those in charge to publicly state they want the contestant to stay. Use it as a learning experience.

Dear parents, your twelve year old should no be dressing up as a klansman, Hitler, in blackface, etc.

[Towlie]

15. The Strangers: Prey at Night was released on 3/9/2018. Does the math work out? Hmm... It's close.

 
?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285009/

[MissMillie]

20. And the kid was 12... and it's a horror movie????

I don't recall letting my kid watch horror movies at the age of 12.

[NYC Liberal]

33. It's a sequel to The Strangers, which came out in 2008, though.

They wear the same thing in that movie.

[48656c6c6f20]

18. it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way

Translation:
I am a racist fuck and I got caught.

[SpankMe]

24. Yeah, this is bullshit.

He was 12. This should get a pass. I know it looks like he pulled out on his own and wasn't forced out. But the over-the-top social climate these days probably helped him with his decision. Self-cancellation to avoid the backlash.

I think this cancel-culture we hear so much about is justified more than half the time. But, even I have to say it's going too far.

[StarfishSaver]

26. It's a talent show

Last edited Sat May 15, 2021, 11:10 PM - Edit history (1)

He doesn't have a right to be in it.

This is not "cancel culture"- it is a business decision by a company that would prefer not to have someone representing it associated with something that is deeply offensive to a large segment of Americans - and a large segment of their viewer base.

Seems to me he could have avoided this by disclosing this to the producers months ago so it could have been dealt with proactively instead of appearing as if he was hiding something.

But the tendency of some white progressives to holler "cancel culture" whenever a white person is called to account for being grossly inappropriate is noted.

[StarfishSaver]

25. "Caleb doesn't have a racist bone in his body."

Except for the time he dressed up like a Klansman.

Actually, I blame the parents for this. Who lets their 12-year-old kid dress up in a Klan outfit?

[cinematicdiversions]

29. He didn't dress as a Klansman. He was adjacent to someone dressed in a mask.

I mean at least get the facts right if you are going to wag your finger at a 12-year-old sitting on a couch.

[StarfishSaver]

31. I was mistaken about what he did

But my point stands.

American Idol is a talent show and no one is entitled to be on it, much less to win. If a contestant has something in their background that brings adverse publicity for the show, the producers are certainly going to take them off the show. He's not a victim.

Interesting that some people are horrified that someone is kicked off of a talent show because of something he did when he was 12 because he was just a kid but think it's perfectly ok for a 13 year old to be killed by the police because he should have known better.

[Takket]

32. I can't seem to find a straight answer on this in the articles online

Did he quit after the video came out, or was he kicked off the show by ABC?