American Idol 2: Corey’s Story

Now that Corey Clark is truly gone from American Idol, all hopes of a return vanished, Clark no longer feels the need to keep his mouth shut. Some of what he has is perfectly plausible, other parts are completely unbelievable. You decide.

Corey was set to appear in Kansas' Shawnee County Court on Tuesday, April 15, but a continuance has delayed his appearance. It looks like Clark’s attorney and the prosecutor are ironing out non-trial resolutions, which seems to jibe with his assertions that the story being told by the media is not the whole truth. His trial date has been moved to May 7, 2003.

The trouble began with a run-in with Topeka Police last October for allegedly attacking his 15-year-old sister. He was charged with resisting arrest, battery, and criminal restraint.

Clark has said in interviews that he never hit his sister, Alysha, 15, a star player for the Mt. Juliet High School girls' basketball team. He said the arrest was the result of a loud argument between him and his sister at the family's home in Topeka, KS, in October of last year.

He was baby-sitting his sister and she wanted to go out with her friends, despite the fact that she was grounded. Clark says things got ''a little out of hand'' when a neighbor came over, and Corey profanely told the neighbor to mind their own business. The neighbor called police.

When the police arrived, they announced their intention to take Alysha to juvenile detention. Corey insisted they wait until their father arrived in half an hour. That's when Corey was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and assaulting his sister, he said.

Alysha Clark told both Access Hollywood and People magazine that Corey never hit her. She also echoed Corey's account.

Corey says a later pre-trial hearing was canceled and his $100 bond money was refunded, so he assumed the charges were dropped. So, when Corey got the application for American Idol, he checked that he had never been arrested because he essentially thought that that was true. ''I thought, they're not pressing charges because they made a mistake,'' Corey said.

About American Idol, Clark says he believes show producers knew about his arrest record all along and used it to boot him to add some drama, ''They had ex-FBI agents doing background checks on us, you know what I'm sayin'? I highly doubt that an 'e' being left out of (my name on) some of the police reports … would throw off such a highly skilled background checker.'' Spokesmen for American Idol have said that their background check was thrown off because Clark's first name was misspelled on police reports. They’ve since backed away from that defense.

He also says producers basically scripted his taped exit interview that aired April 1, the day he was disqualified for not revealing his arrest. Yet he continues to assert that the producers treated him well, except for at the time of the ouster.

Still, Corey says, it was all about drama from the jump. “From the start, they told us: 'We're not looking for superstars, we're looking for great television.'” (In the early shows, there was unusual focus placed on the disagreements between Julia DeMato and Kimberly Caldwell, both of whom made the Top 32 and the Top12, as well as an almost fight between Alden Wynn and Marcus Coleman, who did not.)

Corey said co-executive producer Nigel Lythgoe practically scripted what turned out to be Corey's American Idol farewell interview, though Corey says he didn‘t know that was what he was doing at time. Corey says Lythgoe told him he might have a chance to stay on the show depending on how he handled the interview.

''Nigel, he was sitting like right there in front of me,'' Clark said producers told him to apologize for taking another potential candidate's spot, actually feeding him the line: ''The only thing I'm guilty of is not telling the producers.'' Therefore, the interview we saw was Corey Clark thinking he was still on.

Then, Lythgoe told Corey a couple hours later that a Fox network vice president demanded Corey off the show. Gone, but not forgotten. Corey's picture remains on the show's website, idolsonfox.com (Frenchie Davis and Jaered Adams were erased like memories) and Corey said he is meeting with a booking agent to talk about his inclusion in the inevitable upcoming American Idol concert tour. Vanessa Olivarez, who was not disqualified, has not been invited.

But wait! There’s more. Corey has discussed life as an Idol with The Tennesseean. He says:

There was unfilmed drama between Corey Clark and Joshua Gracin. The two had an argument after show producers (incorrectly) told Gracin that Clark picked a certain song to sing because he had heard Gracin on the phone earlier saying he wanted to sing the same song.

Clark says Gracin then complained to other contestants, saying Clark was a “jerk.”

They eventually straightened things out after Corey approached Josh and told him the truth. But Clark says he didn't like the way Gracin handled it. ''I said, 'You're a Marine, dude, stop acting like a ballet dancer.' ''

Kimberley Locke has ''some fine feet!'' Clark says. ''I mean her skin is soft and her toenails are always painted up the right way.''

Recently dismissed Kimberly Caldwell and JD Adams may not be as snuggly as they appeared. They have ''an open relationship.''

The room Corey shared with Ruben Studdard and Rickey Smith was called ''the boom-boom room.''

Corey’s favorite judge was Paula Adbul, who he serenaded before making the Top 32. ''That lady is one of the biggest sweethearts in my life.'' Not far behind is Simon Cowell, who surprised Clark by talking to him and giving him encouragement.

Sting7 can be reached at stingseven@yahoo.com.

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