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Clay Aiken: American A-Hole?

Posted Dec 28th 2006 11:52AM by TMZ Staff

Clay Aiken and Joshua Willard Clay Aiken's diva-like behavior has got one former fan pissed off. The former "American Idol" star is being accused of booting a 15-year-old boy off of a concert line-up simply because he wasn't festive enough.

Joshua Willard won a North Carolina singing competition, which gave him the chance to perform with the Greensboro Symphony during Clay Aiken's Holiday concert on Saturday. Willard told TMZ he rehearsed his song, Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," and had just finished a soundcheck when managers of the Symphony told him the devastating news that Aiken's camp had decided that he would not be allowed to perform because he was not singing a Christmas song. Bah humbug!

Curiously, other singers who did have holiday songs prepared were also not allowed to sing. Instead, Willard was only allowed to lead a 30-second group singalong. Lisa Crawford, CEO of the Greensboro Symphony, told TMZ that the children were never promised they could sing with Clay; "It was his tour and show. We were just hired to play."

During his concert, Willard says Aiken "was trying to be more of a comedian than a singer," -- and an unfunny one at that. Aiken made multiple references to his controversial appearance on "Live with Regis and Kelly," where he attempted to put his hand over Ripa's mouth. Willard says Aiken was rude to audience members and told several people to sit down and cover their mouth. Clay even showed a raunchier side by pretending he had flatulence every time feedback came through the speakers. Talk about making a stink!

An hour after the show, Willard got to meet Clay, but says that Miss Thing was "snotty" and acted like he was too good for his little fans. The former Claymates were even told not to take individual pictures with Aiken, only group shots. Willard is devastated and says that due to Aiken's behavior, he now "could care less of Clay." Joshua hopes to tryout for the next season of "American Idol," to show the world what a down to earth Idol is really like.

Calls to Clay's rep were not immediately returned.

Tags: Clay Aiken, ClayAiken

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61. I'm just happy that Clay wasn't all Oompa Loompa Orange like he usually is. His a**holishness brings shame to Oompa Loompas across the land when he puts on his pancake makeup. And now he has stolen someone's hair and plopped it on his head like a rat.

Posted at 4:58PM on Dec 28th 2006 by MooLoopy

62. First of all, for people who say they are being sarcastic, no one can hear your tone of voice, so you better make it more clear with the words you use rather than just accusing people of not understanding sarcasm. Sure, you know how you mean things to sound, but no one else does.

I don't care if anyone is gay. There's nothing wrong with that, but what is wrong is that Clay thinks he is king of the world or something. None of the Clay fans really saw the whole Regis and Kelly show where Clay was being a jerk for the whole first 20 minutes. He kept being arrogant and conceited about how he has so many fans, etc, and tried to be "funny" and put Kelly down constantly. He wasn't funny, he was nasty and awful. He was more rude than I've ever seen anyone be, including Simon Cowell.

People who only saw the hand-over-the-mouth thing didn't get the whole story at all. Clay really seems to have gotten incredibly full of himself because he has so many fans and so much money and fame now, but he's really acting like a big a**hole.

Posted at 5:08PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Christina Andra

63. I don't care if what the kid in the article said is true or not, the title of this article is very accurate. The reason there keep being reports of Clay's diva-like, jerky behavior is because that's how he keeps acting now.

His Christmas CD stinks. It only has one good song on it. I couldn't even bring myself to play that one song (O Holy Night) this year, even though I used to love it. I kept thinking about what a jerk he is being, and I couldn't stomach listening to it.

Posted at 5:12PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Christina Andra

64. I personally know him and he is a great guy. Peoples sexuality should never be the matter of public discourse

Posted at 5:16PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Oprah

65. Whoever wrote about people who hate certain celebrities then says they must be jealous are insane. I don't like George Bush, Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Cruise, and several other celebrities - but I'm not jealous of them. I absolutely love Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, Mark Wahlberg, Andy Garcia and (singer) Miranda Lambert - but I'm not jealous of them either. I don't care if they are gay or straight......just if they are good people or *ssholes. I have my own life and created my own likes and dislikes, and learned that being jealous is just nothing but low self-esteem slapping people in the face. I guess I was born without the jealous "gene". What I do hate is people (celebrities or not) that think because they've done something good or are famous, the world owes them a f'ing living.

I've seen Clay on other shows, he's just clearly unlikable......to me. If you like him, more power to you. I can tell you for sure, and only because I know someone who works in his publicist's office, there's absolute 911 damage control going on with him and his attitude.

And for the "Clay-mates" (that IS a gay name, admit it) who I knew would come back at me about putting his hand over Kelly Ripa's mouth while co-hosting her show:

49. One more comment about CLay and Kelly Ripa. Kelly chewed ABC gum (already been chewed) on one of the shows, and she wants us to believe she was worreid about germs. Kelly is a DIVA (I dont know why she thinks she is so wonderful) and I think the hole fiasco was Kellys fault.

Posted at 3:52PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Diana

It was KELLY'S decision to do that to HERSELF. You have no idea if it was her gum or what it was, neither do I. But I didn't see her shove HER gum into CLAY'S mouth. Wouldn't happen. It's called professionalism. Being her show, I didn't see her place HER hand over CLAY'S mouth. You don't see anyone putting their hand over a host's mouth to shut them up. It's not funny, and the audience didn't think it was funny. It was uncomfortable. So were the commercial breaks. Clay did that to himself, and to his career. His publicist was mortified. If MY child did that to someone, I would be horrified at their manners. Watch the whole show, objectively, and you'll see, what Clay did was to KELLY, not himself. You can ask anyone in the business, there's not one person who's had trouble with Kelly - except Clay. Clay did this to HIMSELF.

Maybe his next DVD will come out in Braille so that the Claymates can just read them, because seeing him obviously makes them hallucinogenic.

Posted at 5:27PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Patty

66. Maybe if people would stop buying his sh*t for music, he would go away. Unfortunately, there are still too many pre-pubescent girls who think he's straight for him to go away any time soon.

Posted at 6:57PM on Dec 28th 2006 by unpoetaloco

67. Right on maxum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 5:50PM on Dec 28th 2006 by right on maxum

68. The only problem with this article is that it is not true

Posted at 5:15PM on Dec 30th 2006 by joan

69. I see the haters are out in force. So sad. I was at this concert in Greensboro. It was a Christmas concert with a full orchestra. I did not drive 5 hours to watch an Idol wannabe sing Superstition. It was Clay's show and I'm sure a team decision. Sour grapes on this kid's part. TMZ, news a little slow, huh?

P.S. The concert was great and city after city, Clay got rave newspaper reviews. Hmmm. I guess you had to be there.

Posted at 7:15PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Bettyboop

70. Aiken is just pizzed because Rosey O'Donal outted him.....pffft!

Posted at 10:08PM on Dec 28th 2006 by patty

71. OK regarding Clay and Kelly he tried to get a question in but she keep interruping she wouln't him him get anything said so he did what he had to do and it didn't kill her just hurt her pride a little bit.

Posted at 6:58PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Ted

72. Clay Aiken is way too creepy for my tastes...how is he even worth mention on TMZ? His 15 minutes of fame were up 2 years ago....let him fade into obscurity...it will give him more time to pursue his Dungeons and Dragons pastimes.....

Posted at 7:50PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Val

73. Shit for music? You mean because he sings on key? You can actually understand the words? He doesn't use 4 letter words in his songs? I think many of you are afraid the tide may be turning in music and the rap/hip hop, crotch grabbing rabble may be on the way out. Clay has fans of all ages who know he is not going to change just to win over new fans. By the way, you people who are basing your opinions of him on the unverified, poorly photoshopped stories in the National Enquirer, do you not realize that Clay has been investigated from here to next Sunday by the FBI prior to getting a half million dollar grant from the US government and appointed as an Ambassador for UNICEF and spokesperson for Toy for Tots, etc?

Harvey, your desperation is showing. I hope the real losers get back to LA soon so you can pick on someone who truly deserves it.

Posted at 8:01PM on Dec 28th 2006 by Bettyboop

74. Joshua if you got tired of Clay Aiken because he is a prima donna. Then join the Donnamaniacs. If you go to American Awful and think that if you make it like Clay without the prima donna attitude, get real you will meet the nasty celebrities of the entertainment world who blame President Bush for the New Orleans Saints being playoff bound this season. By the way a Donnamaniac is fans of Donna Summer.

Posted at 7:19PM on Dec 28th 2006 by george vieto

75. Naw. Aiken is no A-Hole.

That honor goes to DONALD TRUMP.

Posted at 8:17PM on Dec 30th 2006 by Yellowbird

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