Idol semifinalist booted over ‘veracity’

American Idol contestant Chris Golightly (lefT) is upset after being deemed “ineligible” to compete as one of the Top 24 semifinalists on the Fox reality competition.

Golightly, a 25-year-old shoe salesman from Los Angeles, initially made it through as one of the 24 semifinalists but was conspicuously missing from the end of Wednesday’s episode.

Fox released a statement to Access, saying, “It has been determined that Chris Golightly is ineligible to continue in the competition. ‘American Idol’ contestant Tim Urban has replaced Golightly as part of the Top 24.”

The change was apparent to viewers, since Golightly was seen among the 24 semifinalists on stage toward the end of Wednesday's episode but was not in a shot of the 12 male singers who are advancing.

But why was Golightly booted from the competition?

“This is not fair; I don’t know what to do,” Golightly told USA Today yesterday morning. “Everything was fine when I made the Top 24.”

Golightly claims that a former manager named Lawrence Franklin contacted 19 Entertainment claiming he was under a recording contract. He was then contacted by “Idol” and told that if he were indeed currently under a contract that he would be disqualified. Golightly then contacted Franklin reminding him that his contracted has ended a month prior to his “Idol” audition.

But the damage had been done.

Golightly told the paper that a day or two later he received a call from “American Idol” supervising producer Patrick Lynn saying he had been disqualified. This occurred the same day he and “Idol” producers allegedly received an e-mail from his former manager explaining there had been a mix up and that he was, in fact, not under a contract.

At this point, his replacement, Tim Urban (right), had already been contacted and it was too far in the process to include Golightly.

“Since then, I’ve left them voicemails, but they’ve screened my calls,” Golightly said. “They don’t even answer me. Nobody.”

(Via MSNBC)