KentNewsNet.com

Issue date: 4/11/07 Section: Opinion

The trend of fast-food entertainers has flooded the main stream and has inspired almost everyone to try out to be an upcoming star in the entertainment industry.

Whether it's "American Idol", "America's Next Top Model" or "The White Rapper Show", anybody can bypass the struggles to stardom to live out their "dream."

I miss the good ol' days of Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey or Pink, who had to work their butts off to get to where they are. They can actually call themselves entertainers and not gimmicks.

Sanjaya Malakar is the perfect example of someone who makes a mockery out of the singing industry (not that the industry has had a lot of integrity lately). When Malakar wore a faux mohawk on March 27 on "American Idol", he sparked news all over the country. Everyone was so infatuated with or appauled by his hair that hardly anyone paid attention to the fact that he missed some lyrics during his performance.

Fortunately, mankind has proved itself to have a brain. People all over the United States have gone on hunger strikes to motivate people to vote Sanjaya off of "American Idol". MySpace even has profiles and groups dedicated to voting Sanjaya off.

One profile page, called "Starvation for Sanjaya", has 803 friends. The girl who made the profile went on a hunger strike for 15 days because she believed Sanjaya was not talented enough to be on American Idol.

Even though this warms my heart because it lets me know that some people can judge talent when they see it, the mere fact that people are paying so much attention to this hair-styling wannabe proves that people have become addicted to the entertainer-making machines.

Those who win these shows out of pure luck are hitting the easy street. To me, it's unfair because it slights all of those who are living hand to mouth because they can't see themselves as anything but entertainers. They are willing to do whatever it takes to have their dream. How can they get a leg up?

These shows are exactly what entertainment is not about. They're temporary and sensational. It's like a slap in the face to those who actually have talent and work for what they have. The ones who I'm referring to are the ones who can be fully clothed and reserve themselves from sexual favors and still be successful.

In an E!Online article, Justin Timberlake was quoted as saying he hates "American Idol" and that season five's winner, Taylor Hicks "can't carry a tune in a bucket." I can only imagine how much of a joke the show is to Timberlake, who has been singing professionally since he was a child. He has had to go through rejections, theft from his manager and scrutiny, but he has still been successful.

Hicks, a 30-year-old man with gray hair, no less, has was the talk of the town when he surprisingly beat out a 23-year-old female. I'm just lost on why this man with his "soul patrol" tag line stole the hearts of Americans. He can't sing or act and is close to qualifying for Medicare.

The entertainment industry used to be impossible to penetrate and had an aura of respect and dignity to it. But now all it seems a person needs is a slogan or a hair style and they're made for Hollywood.

Noelle Pennyman is a junior public relations major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at vpennyma@kent.edu.

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