The police investigation is still underway into the death of 30-year-old Paula Goodspeed, who was found dead on November 11 near the Los Angeles home of one of the show’s judges, pop singer Paula Abdul. The online edition of People magazine, citing police, said the cause of death was a drug overdose.
“I am deeply shocked and saddened,” People magazine’s online edition quoted Abdul as saying.
Goodspeed’s audition performance of “Proud Mary” in the 2006 series of American Idol was mocked by the judges.
The contestant has been apparently infatuated with Abdul since the age of 10.
Vietnam Idol was launched last year in the format of the American Idol reality show: to encourage contestants’ creativity and confidence and to discover new singing talents.
This year’s Vietnam Idol judging panel featuring artist Tran Manh Tuan, singer Siu Black and composer Ho Hoai Anh has made some rather cruel criticisms of contestants.
“Truthfully, I feel not impressed at all by your style,” “it’s just like you are copying another singer’s style,” “I’m disappointed” and “I don’t think you can go any further no matter how hard you try” are some of the comments made to contenders after their audition performances.
Vietnam Idol is open to anyone from workers, housewives, street vendors, and students to office secretaries. They appear on the show for fun and they don’t deserve to be hurt in front of millions of television viewers by such harsh comments.
As may be the case in the American show, some people never recover from such psychological shocks.
By Do Tuan |
E-mail to a friend 
Print version
To top
