Idol Apologizes to "Threatening" Contestant

So, the people over at American Idol have issued a statement apologizing to a contestant from the Louisville, Ky auditions, after the judges accused the guy of threatening them during his try-out.

Here’s what happened:

Mark Mudd gave it his best shot for the four pros and was rejected. As he was leaving the room, he said “Take care and be careful.” To which Paula Abdul freaked out (cut her some slack there was the whole stalker incident just recently) and said “not a normal thing to say to people.”

Well, apparently it is. In Kentucky, anyway. So here’s their I’m sorry:

“We apologize to any viewers who were offended by the misinterpretation of the contestant’s comment to ‘be careful’ upon completion of his audition in Louisville, KY.

“Our visits to audition cities are relatively brief and sometimes regional greetings and salutations are lost in translation. We had not heard that phrase from any other contestants during the day, so it took everyone by surprise.

“We now know better and look forward to visiting Louisville again someday.”

So that guy saying “Take care, be careful” is kind of like me saying to you, on my way out, “Take care, brush your hair.”

I don’t meant it literally. I’m sure your hair looks perfectly fine — I didn’t mean for you to actually go brush it — it was just a figure of speech. Just like that was.

Idol Apologizes to “Threatening” Contestant