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The rest of the press have all missed this but massive controversy has erupted about the outspoken Idols judge Gareth Cliff's in Sunday night's Idols episode in which he said a black contestant will win the sixth season of the reality show on M-Net.
I can tell you that M-Net and the producers are being inundated by a flood of responses, email and calls while online forum posts and social media networks like Idols's Facebook page is ablaze with comments from viewers. This follows after Gareth Cliff's Sunday solilique. ''Im going to tell you something very controversial now. A lot of people will agree; a lot of people will disagree,'' the quite acerbic judge said. ''This year my money is on a black winner. And I'll tell you what, it's going to be tough, its going to be really hard because everybody tonight has been really fantastic.''
I'm first with reaction from M-Net with the pay broadcaster being more like Michael Jackson on this one. ''It doesn't matter if you're black or white''.
''Since Sunday's broadcast of the Top 10 Idols Spectacular, M-Net has received many emails and online forum posts from viewers who reacted to Gareth Cliff's comment about a potential black winner,'' M-Net tells me. ''Our viewers are of the opinion that Idols should be about talent only – and not about race or gender – and M-Net fully agrees.''
''Each week, the judges express their honest opinions about the Idols and their performances, but it's now up to the voting public to choose the winner. We encourage the viewers to also judge the performances themselves and to vote for the person who deserves to win this tough talent competition,'' M-Net says.
