Jennifer Hudson - FINALIST

[FireWoman]

Page Six is gossip, but for the most part, it's reliable gossip. They go about their work more along the lines of getting scoop slid to them by publicists who believe that the only bad publicity is no publicity more than just making things up. Given the way that Jennifer's attitude appeared to evolve before our eyes during awards season, I tend to believe this is true.

Yeah, Page Six is part of the New York Post, and its the coveted Gossip Site.
Perez Hilton started as pagesixsixsix.com till Page Six sued him lol.

I honestly can't say I am that shocked to see her behaving like this, as shes always had that little bit of Diva about her. I was happy for her to win the Oscar, GG, etc.. but she needs to know shes still not a HUGE star and better watch her mouth running and Diva act, it may hurt her in the long run.

[happybanana]

I am still in shock this girl even won an oscar. I mean, ok, her performance was good and all, but oscar worthy? Nooo. She is by far the most overrated new celebrity who has found her 15-minutes of fame and I can't wait for it to be over. And I'm gonna go ahead and say this even though everyone is seriously gonna jump on me for it, but...I think this girl is ugly..inside and out.

And to everyone that says (including herself) that she doesn't need to be thankful to idol, think again. I understand that she didn't get picked because of the fact that she was on idol, and that she was against a lot of other girls for the part (including fantasia, blah blah), BUT what I'm saying is, she may not have gotten the part because she was on idol but she got the AUDITION because of idol. Idol got her out there, maybe it didn't make her super famous instantly but it certainly got her foot in the door. How she can be so ungrateful, I have no clue.

She needs to get over herself...QUICK. She ain't that great.

[Justafan1]

And to everyone that says (including herself) that she doesn't need to be thankful to idol, think again. I understand that she didn't get picked because of the fact that she was on idol, and that she was against a lot of other girls for the part (including fantasia, blah blah), BUT what I'm saying is, she may not have gotten the part because she was on idol but she got the AUDITION because of idol. Idol got her out there, maybe it didn't make her super famous instantly but it certainly got her foot in the door.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

[MsFroggy]

They gave her a friggin' parade here in Chicago when she came home with her Oscar. Barf. What the hell for? She got lucky that Bill Condon knew her name from AI and gave her a part in Dreamgirls and now she's preaching about "following your dreams" and her supposedly rags to riches saga. Gee, that's original.

Instead of taking the high road she chooses to get down into the mud and dump on Simon and dismiss AI's influence over her "career". She forgets that Simon did not vote her off the show, America did.

[phoenix1964]

I was very happy when she won BUT.. no one would even CONSIDER to look at her for the movie part if it wouldn't not for the exposure she got on AI.

It does help a LOT to appear on TV in front of 30 mln.people to get NOTICED in the show business, I hope she and other AI contestans will never forger this.

The director said in the interview that the reason why it took him so long to pick Jennifer was because of her AI association. Music and movie insider still think to a degree (it's getting better with Kelly C and Carrie U winning so many awards) they look down on AI and think it's cheesy.

Bill C also said that Beyonce was the first person attached to the film and that he was concerned that she could not tone down her sexiness for the innoncence of the 60's and he had to make sure that the person who played Effie was 100% Effie. Bill said he was suspicious of the whole AI thing. It was an interview with Pulic Radio.

[Amy Lee]

Ah, good to know, Pheonix. I can see where their would be a stigma in picking someone who came from a reality show. AI being no exception.

[Doug123]

Yesterday, before the results show, I spoke with the “American Idol” vocal coach Debra Byrd, who has been there since day one. She was on camera more in the early seasons but with guests like Barry Manilow (who she convinced to come on the show last year) and Diana Ross, her airtime has largely disappeared. Nonetheless, she works with many of the contestants every week behind the scenes, typically an hour each and she helps put together the cut-down arrangements that have to fit 1 minute 10 seconds to 2 minutes depending on how long the show is and how many contestants have to be squeezed in......

(In fact, Byrd takes credit for recommending Jennifer to play Effie for the film version of “Dreamgirls.” She said they called her first to ask about Frenchie Davis or Fantasia. “The casting person had no idea who Jennifer was,” she recalled.”She was not on their radar.”)

American Idol Blog

[Gutmutter]

I just got the March Vogue with Jen on the cover. Can't wait to read the article. She looks beautiful.

[phoenix1964]

I’m not saying that AI did not open the door for Jennifer Hudson. But her exposure on AI did not land her the role of Effie. As stated by the vocal coach, the people working on Dreamgirls didn’t even know Jennifer was ever on the show. And thru the vocal coach, Jennifer gained an audition. But Jennifer had to audition multiple times, because many show biz insiders don’t think much of AI. So, as I stated before, Jennifer owes God much more than AI for landing the role. AI gave her an opportunity to show her talents to the Dreamgirls producers and director. But it was Jennifer who proved her talent and vanquished their bad connotations of AI to land the role.

[Jexter]

Well, if this story is true, and Debra Byrd put her in touch with the producers of Dream Girls, then AI got her there. Debra Byrd wouldn't have known Jennifer had it not been for AI.

Talent alone didn't get her the role. There are tons of unknowns who could have gotten that - or any other role - but don't have the connections.