In some countries, being painfully dumb won’t stop you from becoming a well paid celebrity. Video: Kellie Dawn Pickler, who finished sixth on the fifth season of the Fox (USA) television series American Idol. [All figures and quotes from wikipedia] Pickler’s debut album, Small Town Girl, was certified gold on January of 2007. She was compared to Jessica Simpson in a March 27 story in US Weekly magazine entitled “Kellie: The Next Jessica Simpson.” Pickler also received numerous awards from local and US statewide government officials praising her accomplishments as a contestant on the American Idol television show. Pickler actively supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she helps raise funds and gives kids special visits.
Pickler appeared on Jeff Foxworthy’s show, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?. She was asked, “Budapest is the capital of what European country?” She replied, “This might be a stupid question, but I thought Europe was a country”. She thought it might be France, and then was confused if France really was a country or not. When told the answer was Hungary, she did not believe the host. She said, “Hungry [sic]? That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey, but Hungry? I’ve never heard of it.”[end quotes]
The YouTube video above [+2 million pageviews] convincingly showed that being a successful ‘American Idol’ does not prevent one from being geographically challenged. The same has been happening in Belgium: take a very cute, but clueless no-brainer bimbo, dump her in a studio, overdub her voice with an entire gospel choir and hey presto: a new star is born. Are we too harsh on these ‘new stars’?
This blog is not affiliated with or endorsed by the city of Antwerp, Belgium.
she should be in pain for being that dumb
Comment by furiousBall — December 11, 2007 @ 3:34 am |
Well furiousball, Pickler sure won’t win any Nobel prize…
But I was wondering: are we collectively to blame, as an audience who just likes to be entertained by watching “dumb” people?
Comment by Peter — December 11, 2007 @ 11:18 am |
Peter, I saw this on Pam’s blog and, like a train wreck, couldn’t stop watching it. She just kept digging herself in deeper and deeper, my jaw hit the floor. After I watched it though, for some reason, and don’t get me wrong, she put herself up to it, one word kept coming to mind. Exploited.
Someone KNEW she wasn’t up to the task. Her handlers should be shot and her agent’s toenails yanked one by one with a pair of dull pliers.
But that is just MY opinion.
Comment by Claudia — December 11, 2007 @ 2:58 pm |
She sure was exploited Claudia..
But are our “disaster tourism” TV habits creating a market for these bimbos, and should we better all stop degrading ourselves by watching trash-tv?
Comment by Peter — December 11, 2007 @ 3:15 pm |
I don’t think she was exploited. I think her marketing people are taking her stupidity and her accent and her blonde bimbo haircut and making lemonade from lemons. She doesn’t mind a bit. She’s taking her “dumb Southern girl” persona straight to the bank. Sadly, playing dumb (and being dumb) has paid off for generations of women and their “handlers.”
Comment by V-Grrrl — December 11, 2007 @ 4:48 pm |
V, there’s an ongoing dispute about she was/wasn’t playing dumb on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzDQ0
10,942 people are very busy trying to find out whether she’s really a great actress, or just the ignorant daughter of a small town drug addict [source: wikipedia] who got “abused by the big boys”.
Obviously, I cannot prove either view. But I’ve seen the localized versions on Belgian TV, where most of the ‘dumb’ show contestants left in their chauffeured limousines. Real dumb or playing dumb, it sure pays.
Regardless of whether or not she was acting, I find it rather disconcerting that all major Belgian commercial TV channels are now airing ‘reality’/'trash’/degrading tabloid shows during prime time. And the ratings show that audiences worldwide are hooked on ‘temptation island meets the most embarrassing weirdos’ TV formats. These prime-time bimbo-shows are pushing quality programming to digital pay-tv or to time slots virtually nobody is watching anymore.
Comment by Peter — December 11, 2007 @ 8:16 pm |
it’s all a publicity stunt as v-girl said, this video has been going around for some time now. if you watch it closely you can actually notice she is in on it with the presenter. she’s trying way too hard to look stupid, and she’s not even a good enough actress to pull that off.
Comment by randy — December 12, 2007 @ 9:33 am |
Thanks for clearing that up Randy.
Looking at the TV ratings, we all love watching dumb people. http://www.vtm.be aired a localized version of this FOX format. All my (not so dumb) friends were hooked. Somehow these kind of shows make us feel better about ourselves, while the ‘dumb competitors’ are the ones laughing all the way to the bank.
Comment by Peter — December 12, 2007 @ 12:42 pm |
I agree with V. She’s milking the dumb country girl as much as she can (and the fact that her mother left her when she was growing up–not something you should milk, but she is IMHO). A columnist in our local paper did a column on her and another Idol contestant (country boy playing dumb) and, boy, did she get blasted by readers. So, the act definitely pulls people to her (their) side … amazingly to me. I sure am not buying her act or her CDs.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/042006/04072006/181432
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/042006/04132006/182338
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/042006/04132006/182349
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/042006/04162006/182505
Comment by Shirley — December 29, 2007 @ 12:53 am |
Thanks for the links from Fredericksburg Shirley. I’s always a pleasure to read news from that particular part of VA
Comment by Peter — December 29, 2007 @ 1:52 am |