Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-39843435-20190919112738/@comment-1650307-20191130015839

I read a lot about the Gabrielle Union situation, and for the most part, if you ask me, I think it's a bunch of circumstantial stuff. Namely, it wasn't really a problem for most, but Union was more... I woudn't say "looking for trouble" but, she was trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Sure the Jay Leno thing was out-of-line, but it was still a joke and probably was not indicitive of his actual thoughts on Asian-Americans.

I honestly don't really remember much of Dylan Gilmer, but I think what would be a good middle ground would be for him to audition next year. Sure, Gabrielle won't be around, but I think this could be a way to "wipe the slate clean", you know.

Really the only scummy thing I see is Simon's smoking habits (which I had no idea that he actually did smoke beforehand). You could make the argument of the health risks and side effects from such a habit, but instead I will say that if he absolutely must do it, then I think that he should've done it in a place where Gabrielle wasn't around.

Now does this make Simon a bad guy? Honestly... I don't think so. I mean that was a skeevy thing he did, but I always heard how nice he was in real life, especially during his American Idol run which contrasted his on television personality. My two cents worth is that after time, all the money and power got to him and gave him a big head. I mean when he was on AI, he was often regarded as the breakout star and his predictions for contestants often came true and a lot of huge names came from the show during Cowell's run of the show, so naturally his arrogance may have grown with the more wealth and power he had over the industry.

Eventually, it got to the point of where he had the opportunity of having his own show where he would call all (or at least a majority of) the shots and his ego grew. At this point, it's too a point where everything he says goes and if he wants to break the rules, then he can because he is God and nobody can deny him. Now... does this make him bad? Well... I am not sure. I think it's a case of his ego getting the better of him and that he is still a mostly nice guy. It's just another case of someone going "mad with power". Humans are flawed and sometimes we all screw up and some screw ups are bigger than others. Maybe I am just naive because I have always been someone who saw the good in people. Even when Michael Ketterer and Brian King Joseph had their controversies, I always tried to not jump to conclusions and point figures and blame others and instead try to offer a different side of the coin like I always do.

Now I am not sure what this will mean for the future of the show. The Champions 2 is probably going to come on time and Season 15 is more than likely to happen, but if this news goes mainstream and gets more exposure, then I could see a slight decline in ratings but I don't think this will be enough to cripple the show. But hopefully, this will make a change in the show where, again if this news becomes more mainstream, that changes will be made for the better and that we can continue to enjoy the show that we have loved for years to come.