Did 'Idol' winner have unfair advantage?

enough ~ they will both have great careers
When are you going to stop raining on his parade??

WHO THE HELL CARES! Winning American Idol doesn't translate into a future. Sometimes second or worse place is better. Move on already.

Good Lord, do you really think that the owners of American Idol made their decision based on votes? Hardly, that's just a gimmick to make people feel they had a say in it. It's all marketing. Chris obviously had more selling appeal and can make them more money in CD sales. As if people really buy CD's anymore. More likely iTunes singles sales.

I wonder about the voting process.....I called between 10-12pm and I was not able to vote once....It's not fair that because I son't have an AT & T phone I can't text my vote...

Idol should make some adjustments for next year. Alot of people are mad.

I knew something was up!

This is stupid. Who cares.

Any dirt we can find will do...........................Adam lost, get over it.
Adam will do fine as we all know. Kris won fair and square.
I'm not from Arkansas, and I voted for Kris because I wanted him to be Idol. You're all angry because Adam lost. Well, someone has to lose and that was Adam.

Who cares!? They are both going to produce records, and I have no doubt that Adam will have a long and distinguished career as a musician. I can even see him dipping his toes in Hollywood at some point... So again, why does anyone care? Let it go!

I'm glad we can all see the truth now that Idol votes have been manipulated by the sponsors from the beginning. I just KNEW that Adam had really won. The performances were night and day and there could have been no possible way that this wasn't the doing of some corporate behind the scenes shenanigans and now the truth is out! I can't believe that this isn't on the front page of CNN! I'm telling the whole world! Adam will be vindicated, give him the crown!

I see that Queen wants to have a "meaningful conversation" with Adam which is the perfect showcase for his talent. They will both have fabulous careers and they both deserve to. I tried all 4 hours to vote for Adam but couldn't get in which tells me all the phone lines were busy the entire 4 hours which should mean equal number of phone votes so I am sure the differenece in votes was made by the (AT&T only) text votes. I am still not changing over to AT&T and will still watch American Idol.

Rosemary and Matthew are both right. Adam had my votes from the beginning and truth be told, I was relieved he didn't win. Kris is the epitome of the AI cookie cutter mold. He IS talented and he will thrive in that environment. Adam is so far beyond that box. Yes, indeed Idol got him the exposure he needed but like the Chris Daughterys and Jennifer Hudsons before him – he is afforded far more opportunities for chosen successes than the crowned winners ever will be. Just ask Kelly Clarkson if you've any further wonder as to that truth.

Be happy people. It all shook out just as it should have.

There is nothing to be accomplished at this time. This system of voting is obviously flawed and has been for years. This year it was hard to miss. I just hope that the show can come up with something to correct it or I will be one fan not tuning in next year.

gee cheating? that's a shocker, great roll models for our young.

It's not about who won, it's about HOW he won. It seems to me that there was a quiz show scandal of some kind years ago...this could be compared to that.

Personally, I liked both of them. It didn't matter to me who won.

American Idol is supposed to be about the fans voting. We voted, more than ever before. Kris won. Adam is a great talent but he didn't win this one so let's focus on the WINNER, Both these guys will have great futures but there has to be a winner. I think if had been THAT close they might have mentioned it...but they didn't so I think that probably means Kris won by a lot! My pick was Danny until Paula gave him that song and dance...but l loved the top three. Get over it!

I am a proud Kris Allen fan and I live in Arkansas. Please don't try and tell me that Arkansas has the only people in the country able to figure out how to cast multiple votes. People where doing this for the entire show. Yes Arkansas supported their own but I doubt that we are the only people in the good old US of A to figure out how to text multiple votes.

I think the voting process should be held accountable to it's procedures. I'm not upset that Kris won, nor would I have been upset if Adam won. Like they said, It's not the Presidential Race or anything....
Although, it does seem that there is room for possible rigging of the votes on this program. It would be interesting to know Just How Accountable Is The Voting Process"?

Not surprisingly, the "Who cares?" and "Give it up" comments are coming from Kris fans. I agree that, as far as "news" is concerned, this is not a major story. But I cannot understand why you say to give it up. First, Adam is not out there complaining, it is the journalists who are digging into the story. Adam is being gracious. Second, I think evidence of blatent unfairness is important to uncover in any competition, be it the Olympics, the presidential race, or American Idol. When someone joins a competition, they expect a level of fairness (although, I admit it is sometimes impossible to be 100% fair). This reflects on future seasons of AI. I wouldn't watch if I didn't think my vote would count. Third, I ask the Kris fans to think about how they would feel if the roles were reversed. If I were Adam or Kris, I would want to know (althoughAdam will be successful regardless, and maybe even more so without being under AI's control). Fourth, it is important not to personalize this. Kris was not part of the scheme. Both men were deserving of winning. Both should be celebrated. However, the whole premise of the show is that it is a competition. When cheating is involved, it is no longer a competition.

I'm sure Adam fans know how to use technology as well and from reports I have read, there were Adam voting parties on the west coast. Both guys will do fine in the future careers.

come on jd. how is voting cheating. I heard one lady on a local radio station that said she voted over 400 times on a previous show. Don't deminish Kris's singing abilities because people in Arkansas knew how to use their cell phones. If you want to give us that much credit then they need to raise our schools achievement scores.

My main complaint is that I could not get thru to vote and I started at the very beginning and went for three p[lus hours......I would have voted for Kris had I been able to. I like listening to music and Kris is easy to listen to, period.

People....for pete's sake, grow up and get over it. Adam Lambert isn't whining about the fact that he came in 2nd, why the heck should you. Kris and Adam both will have amazing careers, no doubt about that. Rather than finding fault with the system just be happy for them....

AT&T didn't increase the voting turn our for Kris...Adam Lambert did.

HAHA – American Idol is just another way of brainwashing America....and those that care that much about it don't even realise that they are being used....suuuuckkerrrsss

gotta watch tv, gotta watch tv...gotta text...HAHA

I assure you had Kris lost to Adam and this "scandal" came out about Adam...we'd be hearing a different story. Sure Adam and Adam fans are over the loss, but come on now...let's even the playing ground – this is so not cool. I texted for Adam all 4 hrs, and hearing this just pisses me off, but doesnt surprise me.

No Biggie. I'm the American Idol anyway.

Of course it was flawed, everybody from my 67 year old mother to my 11 year old son were shocked that the boring guy won.... wait, let me add something there.. the VERY VERY VERY VERY boring guy won. Kris will make great music to fall asleep to though.

AT&T didn't create votes for Kris...Adam Lambert did.

I live in Birmingham AL – home of 2 IDOL winners (Taylor Hicks & Ruben Studdard) and 1 runner-up – (BO Bice) – during the seasons these 3 were in the finals, there were places around Bham where you could rent/borrow AT&T phones for texting votes in for our native sons – it worked for 2 of them – we came up just short for Bo. I don't have AT&T – Verizon, but between my land-line and my cell phone, I voted in the 100's .

I didn't have any trouble getting thru. Both will have extraordinary futures. Like said before sometimes the "non-winner" has a greater future than the winner.

One person, one vote. If AI producers can't find a way to make it work, I'm off. I won't waste my time with a show that is "fixed" from the beginning.

AT&T should be heavily fined for swaying the votes! What they did was just wrong!!!

Adam was the better singer. No question about it. I'm a musician, trust me, I know. Sure, they were both good, but Adam had superior talent.

I realize this happens both ways, but people shouldn't vote for someone on American Idol just because they are from the same state...that is just stupid. Vote for them because they are the best singer. After all, it is a singing competition, not a "the guy I never met but happens to be from the same state I live in" competition or a "my state is better than yours" competition. That's just childish.

AI a fake "reality" show, just like many many others that are staged / fixed to a certain degree. To think the AI voting system is a 100% democratic system based on equal opportuny is a farce!...The fact that half of the time when you call you get a busy signal just shows that clearly not every vote counts (except maybe in Arkansas!). It was a fun show to watch, but you can´t put too much stock into the outcomes. What matters is what the contestants will actually do with their exposure now that they have it.

Fan voting is a farce!! As stated, its just to make you think you have a say so. AI is over, done with...get on with your lives and onto something that matters.

There should be one vote per person (phone number)allowed. Then it wouldn't be as much of a popularity contest. There is no way that Kris is the best....I thought it would be Adam and Danny in the finals with Danny somehow winning because he would be easier for "Idol" to work with. However, I think Adam is the most talented Idol ever.

It (the voting) had to be fixed! I knew it!!!!!!!! Now what are they gonna do about it????? Adam was always the front runner. AND the very best entertainer/ performer/ singer. Goody two shoes, crooked-mouth Kris will Never be the the Winner Adam was, or is in our eyes!!!!! Wait and see – he will never be heard from again!!!!!!! Go Adam and Danny!!!!!!!!!!!! You two rock!!!!!

Deb – You def. hit the nail on the head!!!!! Just how accountable are they???????? Or honest for that matter?

What AT&T did was wrong. They should have done it for both contestants. Fair is fair. They should limit the amount of calls to 5 or 10 per phone line. it's ridiculous the way it is. If Kris hadn't sung Heartless, he'd be nowhere right now. Adam was consistently fantastic throughout the whole show. But Adam is going to do MUCH better than Kris Allen ever will. In NY, we're already saying Kris who? Time to let it all go....

How funny – all you people who are saying this article & events are stupid – you sure are taking the time to read them though aren't you?!?!?! LOL!!!!

There's only one thing this story proves: that the media are so upset their anointed one lost in the race and will grasp at anything to prop up their horse. It's all too transparent.

Being able to vote for the same person as many times as one likes is a bit silly. It should work the same as any other voting system in this country: one person, one vote. That would solve a lot of the problems and hopefully stop this flood of tears.

This is really a non-issue, but I canNOT resist! I didn't even know who Kris was until 2 weeks ago. He kind of flew under the radar the entire show. I was not particularly impressed with anything that he did, however; I thought the "new" song was well suited to his style and ability. If he did get a boost from AT&T handing out a few cell phones, so be it. Arkansas doesn't have enough people to be the sole vote producers for that show, so apparently other people out there liked this little known musical dilettante. This crop was not as impressive as some other seasons, we will all return next season with our fingers on our phones ready to send our support to the next up and comer.

I tried to vote for Adam 27 times after the show and could not get through.

From what I've heard, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one...

I call VOTER FRAUD!

No more IDOL, no more AT&T!

Get a life, people.

This is a conspiracy on a scale I havne't seen before. We need Congress to intervene. I demand Senant hearings!

The Arkansas votes should be thrown out and a recount should be done based on all other states. There is a message that comes across on the TV screen during the show that indicates any "block voting", which I think is the term used, will be disqualified and the votes won't count. (I'm paraphrasing here.) Stick to the rules. There is a million dollar prize given here, so let's not be so quick to just sweep this under the rug. Additionally, it really makes the show look bad and there is an investment of time and money in that show. AT&T should be held accountable and this voting made right. (FCC: Are you listening?) If Kris wins fairly without this boost from AT&T and the Arkansas vote, then so be it and I congratulate him. He's a good guy and has talent. But winning like this is not a true win.

Why can't people just let it be... first Al Gore demands a recount now this? Both guys are very talented and will have records deals soon, if not already. I enjoy American Idol but in recent years even the winner doesn't always have the best career.

Congrats to both of the guys.

Our watch parties were open to anyone who wanted to attend. It's not Arkansas' fault that the smart people of California didn't invite local businesses to attend watch parties. I think Amam fans are upset they were out done by the "hillbillies" of Arkansas. Adam was highly tauted by the judges from the beginning and we knew we had to vote more than ever before. It just proves that anything can happen. If you were so concerned that Adam might not win, maybe those who backed him should have voted more.

Cort... if AI cared about CD sales and "chose" the winner, Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia wouldn't have sniffed the top three.

It's not about CD sales for AI.... the facts show that. Did anyone ever think Taylor Hicks would amount to anything marketable to the mainstream?

No.

"AI" is a prepackaged, carefully manipulated showcase for singers who have varying degrees of talent. If AT&T did this, it was simply one additional layer of manipulation. That is not necessarily a good thing, but I'm guessing it also won't have any bearing on where either of these two are a year from now.

Somebody in this blog wrote, let's focus on the winner. Are you kidding me with this? Did you not read this article? At&T is a sponsor and provided voting help to one but not both of the contestants. Can you say cheating? I can. But I think AT&T should be called out for this obvious favoritism that is very much illegal when they are a sponsor of the show. We all know both contestants will do fine in their future endeavors, my issue is with AT&T. There should be some sort of penalty assessed and a ruling against them.

Personally, I am Alltel and I know many people here who voted for Kris. He worked hard and he deserves this. Adam can sing, but I just didn't like him as much as Kris. As far as "unfair advantage" don't even get me started. Should we talk about camera time and different aspects from the producers and such from American Idol? Adam was good, but he knew it. He will get where he needs to without this. I just hope he has enough dignity (I thought he did) to not get involved in the slander of a nice guy who had something good happen to him. Why can't that just be enough?

yawn.

Clay Aiken rocks...I voted for Ryan

We take the time to worry about this sort of stuff, when so many more important issues are out there like the economy, peace, and the environment. Why can't we just let the guy enjoy the win and not go looking for conspiracy theories. Give me a break!

Kris won, time to move on!

There was a guy in a suit with a sealed envelope.... it couldn't possibly have been rigged

American Idol should review this. I think it's an outrage for the little bar-guitar playing-smoky joint night club singer, at best, Kris, to have been declared the winner up against such a phenomenal, mind-blowing out of this universe talent,
Adam Lambert. THAT is a complete travesty! American Idol should be ASHAMED for letting this happen, ARKANSAS should be deeply ashamed that they CHEATED and STOLE the American Idol title from the man who clearly, earned it, proved it, and blew that other little boy away week after week. I am sickened by it and will never watch this show again. Hopefully they will be responsible, investigate and fix this problem. And either grant = texting to everyone or remove the texting option for AT&T. They also need to do something to make this up to
Adam, everyone, and KRIS, I do mean everyone knows he should have won. I don't know how you can hold your head up – even you said HE DESERVED IT!

ZZZZZZZ really who cares.

let's have a fair re-vote – "recount" show

Yawn.

This is news? Isn't there something important you idiots should be doing, anything?

As a strong Adam supporter, I say let the results stand. In the long run – sorry Kris' fans – Adam will outsell Kris in terms of records sales, concert sell-outs, and be a much bigger global star than Kris. Kris is a nice man and will do well in his career but he does not have the star quality that Adam possesses. Anyway, as someone said in an earlier comment, if the shoe were on the other foot, Adam fans would have done the same thing. Let's move on and wish them both well.

If they really wanted to make it fair and square, they would find a way to limit people voting to only one vote per contestant. But come on now, AI probably gets a cut of the AT&T texting revenue.

This only proves the illigitamacy of the voting policy they use. This sin't the first time, and wont be the last. People should have elarned this from season 2. I complained at that time, it did no good, and I just learned it will continue. So nothing suprises me anymore about AI. It doesn't mean a dang thing.

Both Adam and Kris are very talented young men. I think Adam will be the stronger as far as a career goes. Kris is a cute boy with a good voice but not star as much star quality. There will always be people out to try to say it was "rigged,fixed,or whatever". I'll enjoy hearing from both of these boys in the future. Good luck and I'm happy for each of you.

Kris won. Adam is the runner up. They are fine with it. Arkansas is hardly the entire country and a few demo phones didn't decide this competition. It is time to move on.

I think what happened is very unfair to Adam's FANS – we wanted to see him win and we voted legitimately. ADAM himself will be just fine. No doubt. I'm not worried about Adam at all.
Through all of this, the one I feel bad for is Kris – none of this is his fault and he is such a sweetheart and a great talent. I don't like how this could affect him.
I like the idea of this being exposed, but then the subject just needs to be dropped. I don't want to see Kris be hurt by this.

WOW , I truly believe that Adam will have a much much more successful career than Kris. Kris has the personality and talent of a doormat . Thanks At &T for throwing a little cheat in there.
Really professional.

What AT&T did was completely unfair and they should apologize for it.

I've always suggested that the "winner" is the one that the producers believe they will make the most money on. How do you explain Ruben's win over Clay?

Adam was consistently better than Kris. However, Kris had momentum coming into the last week. Underdogs over perform in the voting as well as Adam's fans probably became complacent.

Remember Simon's warning a couple weeks before that? Don't assume that Adam will win, vote for him. I took that message to mean that Simon preferred Adam, but was setting Kris up for the win.

Perhaps a change to the voting process should be looked at. Has the network ever thought about limiting the number of phone/text votes per person/telephone number/cell-phone text? More of the voting public would be able to get through during the 2-hour, or 4-hour finale, voting time if these types of limitations were put into place. Of course, there would be a drawback for AT&T to do this since they receive $ every time someone sends a text vote.

Season 2, AT&T decided the winner as well. Semi-Final, with Clay, Ruben and Kimberly, 3 lines open for 2 hours, and 6 million votes. Finals, Clay and Ruben, 2 lines for 3 hours, 6 million votes. Seems like the phone lines were the limiting factor.

So why didnt this article link us to the tutorial or info on how to do "power texting". I've never heard of this. Guess I'll be going to google next.

There is always next year

I care about fairness. Cheating stinks, not to mention that Kris would no doubt like to know he won fair and square.

Bottom line, it's a popularity contest. If kids like somebody, they vote for the person, ad infinitum. maybe if there were a charge per vote, like $ .99, that would prevent these types of accusations/situations.

Bush did it, but as your Leader and left proclaimed Demi-god I promise to get to the bottom of this and ferret out the individuals responsible and lay down economic sanctions against them should they not comply with what is come to be known as the morally irresponsibleness of ,,, of ,,,, of ,,, can someone please fix my teleprompter?

Since the moment Kris won Idol, there has been a lot of discontent among Adam's fans. So far and in my opinion as per the results, Kris won because his style appealed to the majority of the audience. Not to belittle Adam's style. However, it is very sad to see that because of Adam's loss; Kris is not allowed to celebrate his victory until today. So, why don't we just let this guy celebrate without any shadows or guilt his victory.

I totally agree with most of these folks. First off who cares. You have a winner and a runner up. Lets get on with the program and quit griping about it. There's always next year's Idol.
CM

God, I hate American Idol and all other brain rotting "reality" shows like it.

Who cares who won?!?! They all stink!

Turn off the tv and go read a book!

I knew from that night that something was up. Even Kris was surprised he won. His expression told the whole story!

I'm not happy about all this but I know Adam will outsell Kris with his music. BIG TIME. Adam has what it takes to sell. Kris is another Taylor Hicks. They can't even give Taylor Hicks tickets away.

Seriously...leave it alone. Adam will be fine. So will Kris.

There are more important things in this world to worry about than the results of American Idol. For those of you who haven't noticed, American Idol is a television show. It's scripted just like all other tv shows and the producers will do everything they see fit to boost ratings and advertising. Having the odds-on favorite win the title is bad for business; it's not interesting and people will stop watching. It's not a commentary on either Adam or Chris' talent, it's just business.

I had the clear feeling throughout the "American Idol" .... was being favored.

I don't think the worm has turned. If the Judges (AI) could have taken the title away from Kris, they would have done it in a heart beat.

I think Adam is fabulous, but I my heart was touch with Kris' win, regardless of how it came about.

American Idol is extremely immature/childish and stupid...please stop watching it...

The system is flawed. I tried voting for Adam for at least 2-3 hours by phone. I was only successful about 15-20 times. If someone with AT&T unlimited texting was voting 10 votes per text and voting the same period of time, that is a HUGH difference. AI needs to make the voting transparent and create some type of maximum vote counter. It seems people voting by phone are truly wasting their time and energy. I doubt I will waste my time in the future voting.

Izzy, Carrie Underwood won AI and no-one is doing as well as she is. Think before you type.

The show is based on cheating. Where else do you get to vote until your fingers bleed or your cell phone catches fire? If each viewer was able to cast but a single vote, we might have a complaint, but that ain't how it works.

The contract they sign says that the votes will not necessarily determine the winner. My niece was a contestant some years ago, and we were all surprised to learn that. So even if the votes were manipulated, it makes no difference.

I was sure something was not right when the totals were never mentioned and always had been before....
That said, after many years of never missing a show I am finished with idol.
All the talk of corruption and religous influence, anti-gay, anti jewish makes me sick
If it is another forum for religous hatred and corruption count me out. I look forward to following super star Adam as his career bounds.. but good bye american idol for me

Not to be cliche but "Who cares" shouldn't we be worrying about bigger things like North Korea, and nuclear weapons!!!!!

who cares? they both have sucess in their future. Winning idol means nothing in the end anyways.

AI a fake “reality” show, just like many many others that are staged / fixed to a certain degree. To think the AI voting system is a 100% democratic system based on equal opportuny is a farce!…The fact that half of the time when you call you get a busy signal just shows that clearly not every vote counts (except maybe in Arkansas!). It was a fun show to watch, but you can´t put too much stock into the outcomes. What matters is what the contestants will actually do with their exposure now that they have it.

This show hasn't been on the up and up for a long time. Look at Clay and Ruben. It is a singing talent show. And there isn't anybody going to tell me ruben out sang Clay, Or Fantasia out sang Jennifer Hudson. kris is a flash in the pan he is just like what is out there. I hope they cancel the show to be honest with you

That was not a people vote as Adam would have won. That was a deliberate "upset" to hopefully increase the excitement and ratings.

Instead people are outraged. Everytime Adam came out to sing he always got the loudest applaud and screams plus the best praise from the stars who coached them.

American Idol was a real sham this year!

Can't people just be happy for Kris. He was a great singer bottom line, sure Adam was seen as front runner for most of the show but bottom line he didn't win....and life goes on!!!!

I was a fan of both Kris and Adam, I wanted Kris to win. Adam spent the entire season screaming rather than singing. I don't think he has a good voice and I am glad to see some people recognizing it.

WHO CARES?! It's over and done with. Nothing will be done, and they'd both still be the top 2 either way. They both have outstanding chances to have careers, and it's not going to be based on if they were 1st or 2nd on AI. Get over it. Let it go, people, just let it go. Oh, and for JP, I'm not a "Kris fan" or a die-hard Idol follower. I didn't care which way it went.

Kris will end up like Rueben and Taylor Hicks...a nobody!!!! Adam will be the successful person! The fans got it wrong...cheating or not!!!! SHAME ON YOU....

I still think the judges should have saved Alexis.

True or not, I wouldn't even pursue this. Adam is probably better off finishing second, anyway...he doesn't have to record Idol's crappy songs, and can have more freedom making his CD. I do like them both...but let's face it...three years from now, Adam will still be in the public eye...no one will know Kris except when he comes back to sing at the Idol finales.

What I found VERY interesting is that I never got a text message confirming my votes for Adam until 9 a.m. the next morning. Up until the finals I always received a confirmation text message after my first text vote. This time the text message did not confirm my initial text, it said that all of my votes were counted. What if Adam fans were waiting for the confirmation text message, never got one, and did not text their votes because they did not know if their votes were being counted? What if they had to resort to phoning in their votes and kept getting a busy signal? I checked the blogs and the texting Adam fans did not receive a confirmation message. I did not see anything on the blogs about Kris fans not receiving a confirmation message. Something smells fishy to me.

DEBBIE, Since you know it all, maybe you should take your know it all attitude and run the show. Shut up and move on.

So if you subtract the extra 5,000 votes Kris received from that group of people, he only won by 9,995,000 votes. All you Adam lovers have to get over the fact that not everyone loved his patented screaming in the middle of every song he sang.

Kris fit the "mold". Obviously, Adam has the talent. I predict Adam goes on the become very famous!

i have been unable to sleep or work since the results..........NOT, ditto to "who cares"!

Kris Allen seems like an exceptionally nice, talented person. I wish him the best.

Adam Lambert stands a very good chance of being the most successful Idol contestant ever. Probably more than any contestant they have ever had, he has everything that Idol producers ever wanted for a true Idol winner. He has a great voice, great looks, stage presence, charisma, originality, and the ability to make songs uniquely his own. He is "the American Idol". The measurements for how well the public did with their voting will come from future success and right now it looks like the public will be wrong.

In any case, We ALL know who the REAL winner is, I don't even have to say his name. It's not the guy that will be forgotten in a few years, but the one with the mega talent, that will be a Worldwide Iconic Superstar. And if you don't know who I'm talking about.... WELL.... just wait and see!

ADAMS FANS WILL STICK WITH HIM FOREVER !!!!

Sorry Kris, you are cute and all , but you will probably be a " FLASH IN THE PAN"

"But was Allen’s home state also his swing state? We may never know."

We may never care either.

I ALSO CALLED BETWEEN 10 & 12 AND GOT THRU EACH TIME. I VOTED FOR CHRIS – YOU MUST HAVE BEEN VOTING FOR THE "OTHER" ONE. SO WHY DIDN'T HE WIN IF YOU COULDN'T GET THROUGH ON HIS NUMBERS? HMMM – DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A SCANDAL TO ME. THE BEST ONE WON SO BE A GOOD SPORT.

I haven't watched AI since Chris Daugherty was eliminated before his time, and look how far he's come! The winner is not always the one that comes out ahead in the end, so be happy for both of them....Chris for winning and Adam for not winning!

Enough. Seriously. Let it be. Give him his due.

Seriously – it's a TV show. Get a life.

What's even funnier to me now is picturing Ryan Seacrest announcing thereswas a hundred million votes, a new record and a new record and a new record .Then watching the audience gasp as do I, with the implication being that a hundred milliion people are watching the show and voting. When in fact it sounds to me like far less are watching this show than they imply. It's too bad that individuals can vote multiple times.. It skews the entire process so no one really knows how many individuals are watching the show and liked that particular artist as opposed to far fewer with fast fingers and an ATT application to do it with. Changes my shock and awe perspective that's for sure.

Allison and Adam were the most talented. One of them should have won. I don't know if it was rigged or not because look at who is voting.,...13 yo girls.

That explains why a guy with mediocre talent won and the two most talented contestants lost.

By the way... I live in arkansas and I graduated from the same college Kris goes to but I didn't like him at all. I thought the goofy look on his face and the generic brand songs he chose were terrible. He can sing but he is no adam or allison.

I completly understand people being bored with the topic, and yes, we do know that Adam will outsell Kris in the long run. The problem I have is that the sponsers of the show were in a contestants home state demonstrating speed calling for votes. They did not come to CA and offer these demonstrations. It really is an issue of fairness and without a doubt should be investigated. I do feel sorry for Kris that this came up. Now it will always seem like he really wasn' the true American Idol. He can thank AT & T for that.

Yes, yes, enough already. Stop roiling the waters. Kris is the winner. Adam will have a terrific career.

JP said it best: it is important not to personalize this. Kris was not part of the scheme. Both men were deserving of winning. Kris obviously has a lot of fans that love him. So does Adam, however, I do see with Adam's fans that they tend to be a bit crazy and scary hysterical worshipers!

Get over it. It's a TV show not a presidential election.

The fact that America is so infatuated with this show is just sad. More people vote for these clowns then they did for the presidential election. Do any of you know who the next nominee for the Supreme Court is? Do any of you care? America's obsession with stardom and pop-culture is exactly what is wrong with this country. Go read a book.

It's a good thing we don't have real problems like disease, hunger and unemployment to complain about.

GET OVER IT!! Adam can hold his own without all this mess! Why do we have to put down on Kris? He is a good singer! Maybe some people just voted for the under dog! I DID! I'm sick of hearing about all of it. He won, Adam will not go away, JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!

buzz kill.......you spent 2-3 hours so that you could vote "only 10-15" times........you need to consider getting a life

The voting process needs to be drastically overhauled if the show wants to retain legitimacy for the average person. If the voting system was correct Kris may still have one, so that isn't the issue. But people calling for hours can't vote yet AT&T customers can vote nonstop for hours using their texting account. Non ATT customers have no such option. Its the ATT customers who are being HEAVILY favoured, not necessarily the Kris supporters or the anyone supporters. But for all the folks who watch,, (millions but maybe not tens of millions) those folks who want to vote should have an equal opportunity to do so and should be able to feel confident that there vote is counted. No one should be able to cast dozens of votes while someone else can't cast a single vote. Please FIX the voting system AI. (p.s. I'm a strong Adam fan)

It's TV folks...all fake anyway. Turn off the TV and step away. I even need to get a life for even responding to this meaningless *%#!?.

Chris won a contract that will bring his FOX producers some money by backing his talent.
After Adam completes his contract (the summer tour), he has a chance to define his own terms on a contract and generate money into his own pockets instead of that of the fox producers.

Adam has a greater vocal range and much more stage craft experience than Chris, I hope he's smart enough to follow the example of the superstars that produced themselves.

Unless those two small fan parties were capable of sending out several million votes, which is the wide margin that Kris Allen beat Adam by, then this entire story is inconsequential and...lame. Lambert lost by several million votes. I have a hard time believing that two fan parties in Arkansas are to blame for that wide margin of victory. Use your heads and you would realize this story is a non-story

So, no Lambert fans had AT&T phones? Come on. Lambert fans could have easily have multi-texted, which I'm sure many of those with AT&T phones did. And, they could've easily have invited AT&T reps to their parties too. Just because they didn't think of it, don't blame those who were smart enough to.

The show is boring, the acts are good Kharaoke at best, but everyone gets worked up over it. It's snothing more than a popularity contest as is once again proven by the "unusual" results...

who cares cancel that show already it is way overrated

WHO CARES?!?

Enuf with A.I. The show is OVER RATED and needs to go off the air. It got BORING after Fantisia won. Ryan is OLD NEWS...and OLD. The judges are wack...and what is the point of the new chick...so Randy doesn't feel left out on his side of the table??

PLEASE Take it off the air

CNN you all need to invest more time into report REAL news instead of wasting space with this crap.

Umm.. someone commented that Idol picks the winner and the voting is for show and that they would make more on iTunes from Allen? Dude, the songs each week were put up on itunes and Adam sold 4 times as much as the other singers combined.

Yet, he lost. But he will be bigger then Underwood, you watch.

This is just another example of corporate corruption in America. This is not really a big deal for the masses, and Adam will surely be successful anyway. If we only knew of all the other corporate corruption where both sides are not given equal opportunity or support... I think we'd be a LOT more concerned.

The entire voting system is so flawed. Makes me not even want to watch that show any more. They need to limit the number of votes from any one phone to get a true representation of the actual number of PEOPLE who want a certain contestant to win. This way is so dumb – it is nothing but a contest of who knows how to do multiple texting and redialing, and who has more time to do it relentlessly. This does NOT show any actual number of people who want someone to win. So what the heck is the point!!??
The biggest thing I am COMPLETELY APPALLED by is that this shows the prejudice in this country. It is a social commentary on the disgusting acceptance and support of hate and bigotry. I know people will jump all over a comment like this and will choose to believe it is not true – but that doesn't change the fact that it is true.

For not winning the "best vote" I have two words: "Jennifer Hudson"

"Lambert fans apparently were not afforded the same opportunity". BS... The State of California is 10 times the size of Arkansas. The population of LA alone is larger than the entire state of Arkansas. I am sure that there are just as many creative minds in LA and Hollywood as there are in Conway Arkansas- Population 43,000. The media wants to blame the loss on a handfull of demo phones a workshop on how to send 10 or more text messages at the press of a single button, come on the vote wasn't even close. Both Adam and Kris have moved on, I think its time the media does as well.

For those of you who "carry on" about "who cares'? It's more than just who won or didn't win..............it's about honesty in this stupid country over even relatively small things. If you can't trust a TV show, who the hell can you trust???????????

I think alot of people are missing the point. It's not wheather or not people figure out how to "power text". I think the issue is, and should be, that a corporate sponsor of the show, AT and T, provided employees who taught others how to "power text" for a particular candidate. The results should be null and void on that fact alone. However, Adam is a humble human being who probably will just say "let this go away". I'm sure he just wants to get on with his career. It cracks me up when people say Adam can't sing and he screams. His voice is controlled and is the very best I have ever heard on Idol. I read a blog the other day where someone said he's NOT A ROCK SINGER. Well, they obviously didn't hear "Whole Lotta Love". Adam is tops, Kris will end up having a hit or two and fade into oblivion with what's his name and that other guy! Adam, you rock. AT and T sucks. Idol should issue a statement making them BOTH idols, or else make the results null and void. AT and T ADMITTED IT!

Kris won because Adam didn't want to win! Adam wanted to be free to join Queen without the Idol strings attached. It was all fixed from the very beginning. I think Adam is more talented ut I think Kris will have a wider audience.

Yes he had an unfair advantage!!! He had more people like him.

The guy who dressed too flamboyantly didn't really fit the bill.

Get over it!!!

There must by a full senate investigation immediately! Just kidding. Kris did have the hometown advantage cause he still lives in his howntown and they rallied around him. You would expect an Arkansas surge for him. They both are great and they both will have great careers. Let it rest.

GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of Adam's fans seem to care way more than he does. He is fine with the results...and he will do fine.. Stop trying to find excuses for his loss.. you are making yourself look ridiculous...

Going out on a limb here but I am guessing we have more important things to put our attention on than this. I wonder when the news will actually serve us instead of working so hard to keep our attention on unimportant things.

The real travesty here is that they both had to sing that horrid "No Boundries" song.

That's silly. There were nearly 100 million votes cast. Even dialidol.com, which has software to let people automate the phone calls, accounted for less than 1 million votes.

Oh, and where can I get a job regurgitating stories from other sources?

It's a TV show. Get over it. It's a real shame when TV news generates more buzz than international reations.

For those of you who “carry on” about “who cares’? It’s more than just who won or didn’t win…………..it’s about honesty in this stupid country over even relatively small things. If you can’t trust a TV show, who can you trust???????????

If you are an AT&T users, and text. And, you have not learned about
power texting...Just ask any teenager.

If you do not have a teenager around. Go on line and google
power texting.

Its not rocket science.

It's all about the money, ratings and advertising. It has never been about raw talent and who deserves to win. They got it right last year. There was a story that people in Arkansas voted 38 million times last week. American Idol will never limit those votes because I think they do get a cut from AT&T. Adam deserved to win but all ten of the finalists will get well from this upcoming tour. I say get over it and let these artists get on with their lives and their two year commitment to AI.

Do you people get this upset about issues that really matter and affect our daily lives. A dose of perspective would do most people on this board some good.

It doesn't matter – they only counted 5 text per phone number anyway. You could send 1000 – it would only count 5.

Who cares? i watched the show, and favored Adam, but being upset over "voting conspiracies" on American Idol? They own the show, and they can do whatever they want – no matter how much they do or don't affect the outcome. Both artists got a career boost from the show. It's reality TV, for pete's sake – move on.

Here's the issue: Do you want to try to limit each person to one vote or do you allow everyone to vote as many times as they like?

"Power voting" as its called has been going on for years. Just ask the Soul Patrol, the Claymates, or Archies Angels from who each supported their own particular favourite in previous seasons

Dedicated fansites offer tutorials to like-minded voters on exactly how to do it, and thousands of people are doing just that

I know, I co-operated a website last year in support of David Archuleta and we raised money for gophones to donate to Murray High School in Utah for the kids to text, and had flyers done up by a professional grahpics artist and professionally printed for distributing with these very instructions.

Cook fans were doing the same and more obviously.

If you think a couple live demos by ATT will change the overall result you're mistaken.

Various agencies report that the vote tallies were not announced because it was *not even close* according to sources inside AI.

According to Ryan, the voting was very close. Those "Freebies" just may have tipped the scales in Kris' favor. Most of us 'regular viewers' had to pay for our votes.

It really isn't fair. IMO all the 'freebie power votes' should be removed from the tally and let the person holding the most votes be the AI!!!

Oy vey, people. Quit acting like a bunch of lemmings! Turn the show off!

Get a life already-we have a whole lot more important issues to deal with than who's the American Idol! Unbelievable!

Everybody knows Adam was the real winner and it was obvious that AT&T and Disney were going to do whatever it took to make Kris the winner. Big deal. I'm glad Adam didn't win because he's so much bigger and better than being the AI winner. In reality, Kris will need all the help he can get to make it in the business long-term. He won't last. He doesn't have "it". He's just vanilla and people are going to forget about him pretty quick. Even now, look who's getting all the attention in the media and by the entertainment industry, Adam is. Talent like Adam is special and people who "really" recognize true star power know it. Even internationally, people from other countries love Adam and don't even mention or care about Kris. Rock on Adam! We love you.

C'mon, this sounds like something you'd find over on Snopes.com. Think about it–this is a nationwide contest with millions of viewers. Does anybody actually think that you could hand out enough free phones in Arkansas of all places to sway the vote? If you really believe this, then you need to meet my next door neighbor...some old guy named Presley from Mississippi...says he used to be a singer...wears these funky jumpsuits all the time....

grow and get a life you cry babies.....adam will have a better career no matter what place he finished.

It really doesn't matter. Adam is going to have a much better career than that other guy.

p.s. Why do you think voting numbers are way up while viewership is down.

Get over it, Kris Won and there's only one Idol and that Idol is KRISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!! I am sure Lamb, Lamb will do just fine with his screams to those who love musicians who scream.."for me, for you not so" Kris is a true musician, he can write music, play guitar, piano etc...and he is a progressive singer, Adam is an entertainer and its all good but he lost..lets move on pps!!

Lets all concetrate on the WINNER...I thought Americans were democratic?

I watched Idol a handful of times in the many seasons its been on. I can't say I'm a fan. What I can say is this: From what I've seen, the one that is consistently the best never wins in the end. It's obvious that they're keeping the show interesting by making sure the obvious favorite doesn't win. Clever marketing. I would suggest finding some other form of entertainment if you don't like how it turns out.

You can't please everyone each year. I think the correct person won. Adam will be fine!

You can't tell me that in this day and age, you don't have the technology to be able to cast ONE VOTE PER PHONE NUMBER. Easy as that.

Who the heck cares....get over it, everyone in the top 12 are offered recording contract opportunities, it's up to them to pursue or not. So in the final outcome, Number 1 thru 12 could have been the winner, the actual winner is the one who pursues the contract.

I don't even bother watching the show. The show is primarily fixed on generic pop music – who cares about the rest. It's not a real talent contest but who is popular.

I'm sure the "gay" factor was a small part of the reason why Lambert didn't win.

@Michelle: Other may have casted multi votes but to actually have a snponsor bring in free phones to Arkansas just so that they could vote? Almost like voting on behalf of a dead person.

@Deb: As I never bothered watching the show, but I can assume a major accounting firm [PriceWaterhouse? Deloitte?] verified that the votes were counted correctly. How people voted [read: AT&T in Arkansas] is different.

I was a big supporter of Adam and wanted him to win because he proved to have a more powerful voice and could sing more different types of songs than Kris. There may have been voting issues, but I also thought that Adam might have fared better in the final if he had competed directly with Kris by singing the kind of ballad songs that Kris would sing. After all, Adam already had the "hard rock" vote sewn up because Kris just can't do that. Adam might have stolen some of the "ballad vote" from Kris by displaying his superior vocal qualities to the kind of people who are turned off by hard rock.

I have never voted but watch every season. I thought Chris was boring and I still can't believe people think he is a a great singer. However, winning will probably be his downfall, as it has been to several winners in the past. Adam is brilliant, he didn't need to actually win for the right people to figure that out. Just my opinion as an intelligent person who doesn't buy into the voting and text-messaging thing. Certainly the phone companies make a lot of money over it!

Adam made you fall in love with him. He is an unbelievable performer but he just isn't as great a singer as Kris. In the end vocal talent won over acting. Love is so blind.

I don't watch American Idol but i do know about it...WHO CARES if Kris or Adam won, yes i heard both of them sing from time when i was just flpping channels. As what other comments are said, both is going to have a great future in singing careers, signing contracts, going on tours. BTW, i'm not a fan on either of them, so WHO CARES!!!!!

Lambert blog taught power texting too.
http://adam-lambert.org/power-texting-with-att/

Its AI that really loses out. They don't have Adam under contract now and he can pursue other ventures. They are stuck with Kris Allen, and have to promote him. haha, you got beat by your own game. now you can fix the voting problems.

Well I tried may times for Kris and couldn't get through. So there goes that theory.

I think they were "stadium parties" not just little house or bar parties. AT least that's what a news station was reporting this morning. 50,000 "demo models" of some sort of texting device were provided. Not just "a few". And, I also heard on the news this morning that 40 million votes were recevied from Arkansas, a state with 4 million people! Figure that one out! At least that is what some news stations are reporting. It would have been nice to see the real outcome, one vote per person. I voted for Adam every time, but just one vote each time. That seemed like the fair way to do it.

My Gosh this is getting real old. Get over the fact that Kris Allen won and Adam didn't. Kris is a very talented young man, in his own. He sings beautifully and plays the piano and guitar. Adam sings beautifully and has a great stage prescence. Who has more talent? ummmmmm I'm thinking Kris does.

Kris and Adam will both do very good, in the industry, as will the rest of the top 13.

Adam does not need American Idol be make a name for himself !!!!

Lemme see if I understand this voting process

It is not decided by the number of people who vote for a specific singer.

It is decided by the number of times an individual person can cast multiple votes?

And this is supposed to be a fair and honest voting process?

In a dieing music industry, I wouldn't envy either of the 2 finalists for what they would be up against trying to get CDs out into this market. The industry just isn't anything close to what it used to be. Winning Idol just isn't as much of a big deal as everyone thinks. If you don't have the creative talent to write and score your own music well, you will not make it past "hello" in the industry.

Get over it already. Adam lost because he didn't have enough fans/votes to win. Kris had more fans/votes, and won. End of story.

If you are bored, disgusted with AI etc., just don't watch. I hate to see people whining about how unfair it all is. Want to know what really happenedd? Everybody who was a Danny fan (like me) voted for Kris because we liked him and HATED Adam. I voted against Adam as much as anything else.

I'm glad you think he talented but get real. If you're upset, don't watch it next year and I won't have to read about you ranting and raving. Move on.

Who really cares, I quit voting when Matt got voted off, and he was not the only one who got off two early. AS far as Im concerned the bottom three should have been Matt, Kris and Adam. But the top five will all have great careers.

UMMMMMMM....Does AT&T exist in Cali????? I think so.....Should AT&T be involved in any voting...NO But if they are, it should at least be provided to both contestants......They dropped the ball by doing this, but other than being sponser of the show, they have NO vested intrest in who wins......

It really doesn't matter. I for one am boycotting the show. America never get's it right. If they cheat with Idol votes, people must cheat with presidential votes. America = Epic Fail.

Hey, Hillbilly ArkLou . . . Thanks for your "Southern hospitality" but your in-state parties were held without the rest of the country knowing about them (as if we would travel to Arkansas for your parties). Your post-show "invitation" is sarcastic, shallow and meaningless. If AT&T were going to host these parties, they should have done it cross country, in every state in which they do business and for ALL the contestants. There is a million dollars in cash prizes involved here. That is not meaningless; it does means something. In fact, it means plenty. And for the rest of you who are worried about North Korea and all the other world problems, write to Congress and the President, not American Idol blogs. If you got cheated out of something, you would certainly be up in arms about it. Adam is not; he's too classy a guy. But no one likes a cheater. Kris must be very embarrassed by this or will be if he doesn't know about it yet. AT&T, sponsor or not, had no business pulling this stunt. It sounds like a RICO Act violation and I hope the AG and the Feds get after AT&T. They've been in big trouble with them before for other things. Guess they never learn - just like our country's banks.

How many times do you read "Who Cares"? Kiddies, yes you should care if there is any integrity in yourselves. Can you imagine hearing about what Milli Vanilli did in a previous contest and saying who cares and "lets just move on". You had a major corporation meddle in the voting by supporting (assisting) one contestant and not the other contestant–and you don't care about this???? Hey, so Bernie Madoff swindled millions of dollars; many lost their entire savings,–"So Lets Just Move On"?????????

I did not watch American Idol the entire season except for the final two-hour telecast. I really don't care who wins; however, there was a huge and major difference between these two singers when they performed that night. So when I heard the results, I just laughed. Kris was on the Ellen show yesterday, and swear I only heard a mediocre, plain vanilla , C+ voice. I really wish him the best.

Where is the integrity of your lives kids?

Kris Allen CANNOT sing. His supposed "Victory" song was way off key and horrible..What an embarrassment to American Idol!

It's ENTERTAINMENT for goodness sakes! This is not a matter of law...or even of politics or anything of the sort. AI is just ENTERTAINMENT. Fixed? Next thing you know, people will start claim that World Wrestling ENTERTAINMENT wrestling matches are fixed too!! Oh, the horror of it all!!

Presedential elections cheated, AI competition cheated, long live democracy. Hey world, copy the American democratic ways. Oh wait, Chavez is doing that, and Saddam also did it. Hmmmmm where is the difference?

You're kidding me right? We have a few other issues in this world that are more pressing than "Idol". If you need this "scandal" to teach you the world is not fair then we as a nation are truly lost. Get a life...preferably one that involves helping others or better yet, helping yourself not to be so helpless and gullible.

Are any of the "reality" shows really reality? Don't think so. Why get so worked up over it?

I agree with Izzi.... that Kris was "cookie cutter" for AI producers. Personally, I find Kris to be an exceptionally nice kid, intelligent and a competent performer. However, you would be lying if you did not admit that musicians of Kris' caliber can be found at any major college talent show.... nice, but nothing special. I am still scratching my head how Kris even made it into the Top 5. If people, for just one moment, were to cast aside all biases and judge Adam/Kris purely by voice & performance abilities Adam would stomp Kris. Even Kris' interview responses scream his surprise of winning. It is actually sad that he knows "America" voted for him for the wrong reasons. After all, this is simply a singing competition and not a survey of one's social, personal, or religious beliefs. Given the results, it is clear that the voters able to get through to vote (this Adam fan was not able) registered their personal bias. Again, as Izzi points out, I am easily able to "move on" because--yet again--the results of this show will soon bear out that the "loser" will enjoy a far more lucrative career and have greater name recognition. Adam lost the battle BUT he will win the war. That, my friends, is a success (for Adam) that even the biased/tone-deaf Kris fans can't manipulate or deny.

No matter who won...Top 10 deserved to be where they are...

However, it does matter about the voting process for this time last time next time. If the voting is rigged why even bother!

Adam did win people, by a mile.

By coming in 2nd place he is now not attached to the very lame song "No Boundries" co-written by the worst judge on the show.

He is not locked into the ridiculous contract that the Idol winner gets.

After the Idol tour Adam is free to do what he chooses and will have many, many, more doors open to him than the Idol winner does.

Coming in 2nd is the best place to finish on Idol when it's all over.

This makes me sick. If this is true, American Idol and AT&T should be ashamed. Adam should of won. I hope this story takes off and someone is forced to answer for these allegations.

What is American Idol?

It doesn't really matter who won. AI is all about going deep into the competition to get known, develope a fan base and get a recording contract. Kris and Adam both achieved those goals. Congrats and good luck to both from a die-hard Adam fan.

Why can't people accept Kris won, Adam lost. Why do they have to assume it was due to cheating. Kris is a great talent. Adam is good also but not alot of people go for the "Rocker" style of music. I know it's not my style. To me everyting Adam did was the same. Kris gave us variety.

I'm so tired of all these cry babies regarding AI and the voting. Who cares anymore? They cry every single year. If it's so horrible, stop watching it! Then the world can move on from your idiotic rantings that make you all sound like 12 year old girls. It's over.

WHO CARES? When we are being charged per standard text rates...I care! If "demo phones' supplied by AT&T reps and those phones were used FOR FREE BLOCK TEXTING, thye broke the LAW. AT&T should be sued by CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT from those who were charged for each of their LEGALLY CAST VOTE!

I think there was more to the texting than that- I text voted numerous times for Adam Lambert and never did get a confirmation. But anyway it doesn't matter who won. They both got all the exposure they need to become superstars and Adam won't have to sing any more of those cheesy songs...

It's ok because as we all know being the winner does not equal success. Look at Ruben he was first place adn where is he now? Nobody knows or cares. Seems like all those who bothered to vote for him, didn't bother to buy his CD. In this case the second place will be the most successful similar to what happned with Daughtry.

Right on TL! I agree with you 100%. There are all sorts of real events, tragedies, and living going on in the world. Cancel that crap AI and give that air time to a deserving show. And no I am not bashing whoever the guy was who won, I have never, I repeat never watched AI. I think it's really stupid.

First Santa Claus, then the Easter Bunny, and now American Idol. Boo hoo I will never believe in anything ever again.

FIXED! That explains why IDOL didn't discuss thenumber of votes. Every phone vote is traceable and apparently they know something was FIXED int eh voting!!!

American Idol has lost a lot of credibility over this. The viewership will be down even more after this debacle. Chris does not have the voice of Adam, Danny or Allison. He should have been voted off week s before the final. The show is a scam. Why don't the judges just say the producers make the final decision and the hell with all the fan votes. Chris will be less successful than Adam, Danny, Allison, or many others – just wait and see. It is too bad because he is a nice guy and would have been happy to be second (which is more than his voice deserves). Boo to American Idol for scamming the fans.

Adam Rocks. I still can't believe he pulled off a Led Zeppelin song the way he did. Winning American Idol would have held him back. I see a Grammy in Adam's future. I do wish that we could text our votes in even if we don't have AT&T. I live in Canada and I tried to phone but the lines are always busy.

I have watched AI every season. I have always voted via ATT text. I chose that phone company long before AI. I voted for Kris Allen and I am from Arkansas. I voted more times for him than I have ever voted in all the years I have watched AI. He is talented and he is an Artist. Adam is talanted and an artist as well and he will make it. Why must we dampen the win for Kris? If people chose to buy ATT service, they can text. It has always been that way. Funny how this year it now becomes a problem. If ATT employees gave a few phones to text votes for Kris who CARES? Anyone with an ATT phone can text. If it makes you mad, buy ATT service and you too can text as many times as you want for your favorite, but LEAVE OURS ALONE!!! You go KRIS!

There was a report on the local news (CT) of a woman who purchase gophones in two different time zones and spent six hours casting 52,000 votes for Adam

Can I still vote?

Why are you even reporting on this? Do you really think,AT&T swayed the vote? Would Adam have won? Stop stirring up trouble.

I can not believe this is a news story, get over yourself CNN. This is not real news in any way.

Get over it!

only in america ppl cry about every issue.

Wait, this is still being talked about as news?

I hate discussions about tv shows...its bad enough I hear it from people at work.

Everybody knows it was fixed!! It's all about money ,nothing else!!
I personally have resigned from watching Idol. I know many people
who will no longer watch it. It's warped, crooked, devious, unfair,
and the poor public follows it like lemmings how sad!

I cannot imagine anyone stooping so low to even watch that stupid show. I tried a few times to watch and thought it was awful. How can anyone take it seriously and get so upset about something that really doesn't mean anything. Get a life people.

holy CRAP, people.... today,we're hearing that North Korea wants to blow ships from OUR navy as well as the South Korea navy out of the water and possibly strike against (or TRY to anyway...) mainland America and THIS is the baloney you're concerned about ?!? tell ya' what,ya' bunch of mall-shopping pantywaists...GET A LIFE !! and get a grip on reality !! i mean REAL reality !!

They have always swayed the votes. Just look at the season when that great Asian singer was ousted so early. He was awesome and got screwed! SHE BANGS!

OMG. Is American Idol REALLY newsworthy!? Who cares! Get a life people. Read a book, read a newspaper, get up off your butts and do something rather than sit in front of a TV watching this useless junk. No wonder Americans are fat and stupid. Rename the show American Idiots!

american idol? Just another form of US torture.

Shame on AT&T!!! The employees of AT&T should not be allowed to be involved in the voting process. This would be no different than any other contest where employees of the company are not allowed to participate.

The "right" never plays fair. Adam will have the better career, but there's plenty of attention to go around.

I feel that there should be a limit of calls or texts per household. But in any case – they both will have a great future in the business.
One thing that the should change – judges comments!! You are there to judge and not to predict who the winner is! That is pretty sad. Plus I feel that judges should not pick a song for the contestents. Paula's crappy song choice for Danny cost the guy the finale. BOOO Paula!!

I think it's funny you guys still believe American Idol is real? Ha! Don't you remember the first season? A similar story broke about how there were devices calling and voting THOUSANDS of times!

I haven't watched the show since! I could care less who wins.

Message to Lambert fans – get a life and move on.

To CNN – you've stooped to a new low in what you call "news". Not Friday, but this must be a take the trash out day.

Really? Is there nothing else going on worth talking about? Get over it already. I'm sick of hearing about it. I'm glad Kris won to show the judges and everyone else that they were wrong. No matter how he won, he won. Move on, seriously. Could anyone really phathom the thought of listening to one whole album by Adam. It would kill me. I can't stand it and obviously more people couldn't either, or else he would have won. This is old news.

Good, Lord. You folks slay me. There are NO reality shows. All shows, even family ones are manipulated for maximum controversy and appeal. This is just another conspiracy theory that's being drummed up by the show's promotors to keep everyone watching next season. Try watching an educational program for a change, and you might learn something instead of wasting time and energy texting votes for some pre-approved singing puppets. Get over it!

History has proven that winning AI is not nearly as important as the impression made during your tenure in the finals. To the person from AL who was so proud of the winners from your state: Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks – are you kidding me?? If AT&T rigged the vote for those two, that really is a crime! Bo Bice? Obviously the right person won that time!
We can put men on the moon but we can't find a way to limit people to 1 call or 1 text per phone number? That's a stretch.
Speaking on behalf of the "liberal whackos" from the East and West Coast cities, Kris Allen is a perfectly respectable, perfectly nice and perfectly pleasant singer.......but clearly his real talent lies in his arrangements. Lets face it, Adam Lambert was the superior performer and will continue to be the superior performer, whether AT&T likes it or not. He even manages to make that lame tune "No Boundaries" sound good – LOL!!!!

buzz kill…….you spent 2-3 hours so that you could vote “only 10-15″ times……..you need to consider getting a life

Jim: You spent 7-8 seconds typing a response to a stranger's comment.......you need to consider getting a life

Let me tell you that it makes me feel like a fool having tried, again and again, to get through by phone when AT&T texters can submit 20 votes at a time.

They should ban texting and just use phone calls, giving everyone an equal chance to vote.

Reading these comments has made me much less depressed that my life is so bad.. I can see now I have a wonderful life, by comparison

Some comments don't go far enough...as in "Get Over It!" I might ad, "Get over American Idol!" Is this what our cultural landscape has become? By the way, I live in a rural area, have cable, but still choose to not watch this drivel!

Pick up a book or a newspaper or something, God!!!

obama should fix this... after the banks and auto industry

AT&T did nothing wrong. They did not set out to sway the votes. All they did was show up to a large gathering they were invited to attend- thats just good business on their part. Adams fans, friends and family could of easily invited AT&T as well but they were not quick enough to think of it. Its not like AT&T asked to go to Kris' party or like they wouldnt go to Adams- They simply went where they were invited.

My God, you people can't honestly be surprised by this!!!!
i've known all along this show was rigged!!!! Now along with who
FOX and the producers want to win, one of their corporate sponors are now in the fray!!!! ALL ABOUT THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR!
As far as "raining on his parade", I don't think that's the case at all.
This should have come out if only to reveal once and for all that the show is rigged. I wish this show would go away and maybe now it will!!!!! However, I'm not hopeful, especially when MONEY TALKS

It matters because if it was swayed, then it becomes a fraud issue. And if we allow something like "American Idol" get away with it, what's to stop some other company or organization?

sour grapes...who cares...get a life people

You guys are just jealous...cuz Adam's joining Queen, and Kris isn't ! Congratulate don't playa hate, you dumb doodoo heads !

American Idiots!

Show sucks anyway. It isn't about talent but popularity as this whole "power texting" proves.

Good lord, this is news? Seriously? With so much that can be reported on, why is this even a blip on the radar? Come on, CNN, you have better things to write about.

Who cares. The votes don't count anyways. They are never certified as being the actual win/lose percentages, only that so many were cast. Get a life.

I voted for Sanjaya

WHO CARES

This is the exact reason that electronic voting is a farce...If picking a "celeb" makes these people angry, they should look at BlackBoxVoting.org to see how political elections are manipulated!

And this is supposed to be worse than the lying scumbag press that lies about politicians in support of their own selection and generates hate of the opposition candidate. Every news journalist in the world get their news by sticking their head up their butt, taking a bite, bring the head out, and publishing what comes out of their mouth. Yeah, they're full of crap!

What do you suppose is more pathetic, the people who watch AI or the people who come on these blogs and comment only to say they are too good for AI? Too good for the show but not too good to blog about it, whatever, if you don't watch the show shut up.

@Aleisa – What would dampen the win for Kris, is if he really didn't win. The poor guy already knows that he shouldn't have and then to find out they he may not have at all, you people in his home state, did him no favors. He seems like a good guy that you should all learn from.

Neither would be my Idol!

this is stupid

I got a novel idea, turn off the damn TV and stop watching crap like Idol. This story isn't even worth the electrons that make up the page its on.

"But was Allen’s home state also his swing state? We may never know"

Right. The minute I heard 38 million votes came out of Arkansas I knew something was rotten. Thats 38% of the total votes from a state with less than 1% of the country's population in 4 hrs (actually I heard that ATT also gave out phones with California numbers so they could vote 2 hours longer). We DO know.

I feel sorry for Kris. He's gotta be extremely embarrased about this knowing his fans cheated with the help of AT&T. His AI title is tainted.

I agree with DEBBIE. Adam should have clearly won too. Even the little kid (Kris) said so. When Idol went to Kris's hometown you could clearly see he only had 12 year old fans. Well, guess who is text happy? 12 year olds. I told someone, they probably sat up and texted non-stop for 4 hours. I was right. That kid (Kris) was b-o-r-i-n-g. He acted like he was just putting up with everything, no enthusiasm.He is just plain DULL. What do you think of that 12 year olds? I have lost interest in this show, ESPECIALLY if Simon leaves. Then the whole show will be boring. Now I see why they brought that Kara in, to replace the 3rd judge. Oh well.

Sounds fishy to me......

I just watch the show because it's entertaining and there are some great singers. But waste my time voting for anyone? No way. It's obviously not accurate.

Adam has been in the bottom 2 before... Why is it so shocking to Glam-berts that more voters prefer Kris's low-key jeans/guitar style?

when they have 100 million votes, I mean you think 100 million people voted when only 25 million watched. American idol is the biggest scam ever, they make up the vote totals and i'd even wager they decide the winner regardless of what the vote total is, just a totally rigged show that idiots believe is real. how funny.

What A Machine!!! American Idol da da da da dat's all folks!!!

Seriously? When will this end? The votes are in, the show is done. If Adam won, do you think the Kris Allen fans would be raising such a huge stink? NO. This is lame and shouldn't even be given a headline status.....as a pervious poster stated, GET OVER IT! There are bigger fish to fry......

Typical AT&T. They will start doing that to us with the iphone. Making you pay big bucks for service other carriers offer for 25% less.

I loved Adam, thought Kris was just average (ok...below average, just couldn't see what anybody liked about him); initially I was disappointed that Adam lost. But now, I'm fine with it and everyone else should let it go as well. Adam will have a fabulous career. And Kris will probably be fabulous for his 15 minutes. I will say that I always thought it was unfair that only AT&T users could text. AI needs to work on the whole voting process...not a very good process right now.

I don't watch this trash, but does this mean someone is all alone trying to survive on the island? How long before they become a millionaire?

I have always thought that it should be one person one vote, and we get to see the results. I think if that is the case, it would be a different show...

This calling several times and sending in more than one vote isn't a real account of who is the most popular, it's just who has the youngest fans who will sit at their phone and multi-dial...which isn't an idol.

I want the FBI to investigate. I knew there was a conspiracy! We should all back a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against American Idol so we can get the REAL truth!

Oh, come on. It sounds like a bunch of journalist and mouthpieces have their panties in a knot because they all gave the contest to Adam and they were wrong.

Maybe the fairest way to vote is by how many songs are paid for and downloaded on itunes....then your vote would cost you???

Hey Pat. Don't know if your a chick or not but it's angry not mad, unless you are frothing at the mouth. No one cares!

boo hoo....

American Idol is still on the air?

One person, one vote. Just like the rest of "democracy".

Let's face it, once it gets down to the final 10 or 12 the show already knows who they want to win !! How does anybody know how many actual votes came in for anybody, what a joke ??

who cares

What is this American Idol you speak of? Is it a game show? Sorry but I have not heard of it. It sounds kind of gay.

In my opinion America voted for who they wanted to win this season. Right or wrong Kris is a better image to put in the public. My favorite was Danny. I thought that Adam was a little dramatic. He will never be KISS and yes he probably should sing for Queen. Our country has moral and values and I think the christian votes swayed this time around. I know some people want to whine and complain and say that Adam was robbed. Kris got all of Danny's would be voters and yes I could tell he was shocked. You have to look at the teenagers that loved the way Kris looks and there are some more voters and so what if AT& T gave out phones and showed people how to text. It still would not have swayed the outcome of the votes. The public needs to quit complaing and let Kris have his all deserving victory. As to the comment that the judges said about Adam being the most talented and someone else commented about him being the most successful I don't believe it . The most talented and succesful idol is CARRIE UNDERWOOD.

Are we so caught up in TV and reality shows that this is that big of a deal?! There are more important issues in the world than this!!!! C'MON America!

One person, one vote – problem solved.

I think most people with jobs and lives dont really care.

who cares this show s part of the problem with the world.

This is just ridiculous. Do you not think the massive amounts of voters in Souther California (the majority of whom were no doubt pulling for Adam) don't know how to text message? Do we think they hadn't learned how to "power text". Moreover, is this article saying that Arkansas people are so backward that they needed "tutoring" to learn to text message? And if so, how can that have possibly "skewed" the results? The judges and media tried ALL SEASON LONG to shove Adam down our throats. They practically coronated him the winner during the second week of the "final 13". My feeling is that other contestants, who were eliminated along the way, had fans (like me) who got tired of the constant lauding of Adam as the imminent winner. Yes, he's very talented. Yes, he's a great performer. Was he everyone's favorite? Apparently not. And fans of Annop, Lil, Matt, etc. probably decided to throw their votes to anyone BUT Adam. And do we really believe the show is completely unscripted and unmanipulated? Do we really believe the voting system is fair? I mean, come on. This isn't like voting for public office where a precinct worker asks for your ID and checks your name off a list and then you get to vote ONCE. It's a freaking phone/text vote! The media is ticked because they GOT IT WRONG. Kris won with absolutely NO HELP from the media, NO HELP from the judges. He did it on his own. He did it because people like me got behind him... because he's talented and REAL and not "put on". We got behind him because he represented the original idea of American Idol... that there are undiscovered talents out there just waiting for the chance. Kris is the poster child for "it could happen to any of us", which is the dream that makes us all buy into this show and tune every week. Adam did NOT win... whether the votes were "skewed" or not. Let's move on.

Adam's better. Period!

Well, Lambert is a much better singer, as you can tell immediately listening to the pair sing "We are the Champions" with Queen. The fact that he lost surprised me and this could explain what happened.

I agree!! Stop talking about this already!! They both have great careers ahead of them!!! It doesn't matter who won. Just stop talking about it already because it is over with!!

Final vote not fair by any means if the above statement is indeed true.
And it should be investigated; whether or not anything will come of
it, if voting can't be fair play for fans of both contestants then nobody should benefit. Is this what we have to look forward to on future seasons of Idol?

Oh come on already, get over it. Kris won fair and square.

Who cares who won and how they won. There is always going to be a controversy. The winner of this show never goes on to do anything spectacular anyway. I am shocked that this show is still as big as it is.

Listen, the winner of Idol has to follow through with a 1 year contract for American Idol. The "looser" doesn't. Adam will have his millions while Kris will have to wait.

You think the Arkansas vote put it over the top? Gay people know how to power text also. Was Adam the one who sang like a dolphin?

Adam lost – hey, life happens.

I think to prove your point though – all those that were Adam fans should immediatly cancel their AT&T service just to prove their points. Then sell off your Ford and switch from Coke to 7up or something. Go over the edge for a TV show .... you really should because you obviously have no real life of your own.

Either way, I think Adam makes out. I personally did question the voting process because I voted by text within the window and didn't receive the confirmation back until 11:30 the following morning. I wondered whether all my votes actually were counted.

First off, who cares?

Secondly, the show can swing votes however it likes and no one would ever know. Heck, how do you think Sanjaya stayed around so long on his season? He made for "good tv" and got the teeny-boppers watching the show. Take him off and you lose audience. The voting has been suspect from day one of season 1.

Well we will see which performer has legs here. Kris will be the next Rubin, while Adam will go far. Let Kris get the contract. Adam has too much creativity and talent for that. Let him do Freddy Mercury/Prince stuff... I can't wait to see his presence and performances...Adam will make Millions over Kris in the coming years...just watch!

Why cant they have one vote per person, per week? How many elections do we get to vote an unlimited amount of times? It is not democratic or fair by any means.I feel that the vote was swayed toward Chris starting when Danny was voted off. Sorry, Chris, but Adam should have won! Future record sales will get it right as it always does.

Just look at Taylor Hicks...he won American Idol and do we know anything about him?

Good Lord this is worse than politics. I used the phone, maybe we shouldn't be texting votes, just use the phone and those that get thru get thru. I agree, they are both winners and will go far. I am happy Chris won. Adam was good but not my cup of tea. Chris is more down to earth. They both will go far.

1) This issue shouldn't be (in my opinion) about who should have won, but about the practices of AI and AT&T; both of these performers will succeed fairly well (the idea of Adam fronting my favorite band, Queen, excites me to unreasonable levels). In the grand scheme of things, none of this really matters, but 20+ million people watch this show, so there should be some level of accountability for them. Both parties (AI and AT&T, not Kris and Adam, the latter two smartly not having bothered to harp on any of this, as far as I know) should at least comment on the issue, to satisfy the complaints of so many of their viewers.

2) To those who post and complain about others writing about one of their favorite shows here: that's somewhat ironic. Instead of reading and responding to posts (sometimes rudely), why not just go to some other story on the site?

3) That being said, it would be fantastic if there were this many people also reading and commenting on bigger issues that have greater impact, with this much interest and passion. So please continue reading and discussing (myself included)!

Kris would have won either way... still, I find this a bit sketchy. First of all, it doesn't seem like a power text should be able to count the same as 10 phone calls. Second, are people in Arkansas that slow they have to be taught how to text message? ouch!

No problem. We'll love Adam five years from now and be scratching our heads trying to remember Kris.

The next vote will be when these artists actually release music. When Adam sells about 6 million of his first CD versus Kris selling way less million, then maybe everyone could move forward about the issue.

Adam is already outselling Kris on I-tunes. In the top 10 American Idol song sales, Adam Lambert has 6 in the top 10, Kris Allen has 3, and Danny Gokey has 1. That's probably closer to a real vote than you'll find anywhere.

As far as casting votes go....I started voting on 2 of the numbers provided for Adam just before the show went off the air. I got through
immediately and voted about 7 times before the lines got busy.

We have AT & T phones and texted in votes for Adam. We did not receive our "once only" replies until the next morning. We figure the votes were not counted. Chew on that I guess...

respond to SR above: I went to the link you posted. The major difference between that link and what happened the night of the vote – AT&T was not the sponsor of the link you posted. It was posted by fans, not by a sponsor of the show. Big, huge difference.

Oh come on...Adam is such a better singer and so much more fun to watch than Kris. There is no comparison between the two. Adam will become a star, and Kris will be a has been in one to two years. Just wait & see.

Please!!!!!!! Its over, let it go!!!!!

I had a feeling Chris was going to win. I thought that from the very beginning and to be honest I wanted the blind guy to win. When he was booted off I then starting voting for Chris.

Adam got offered the job as lead singer of Queen, I think he'll be fine, people need to drop it.

I am a Kris fan. If the roles were reversed and Adam won, I really would have forgotten about it by now. Really, in my book, unless you create a CD that I want to buy or download to buy, then it really does not matter who won. To date, I've bought Daughtry, Yamin, Sparks, and McPhee music. These four are my favorite American Idols regardless of where they placed.

What concerns me is the inability of Adam fans to keep this in perspective. We're in an economic disaster and many have Lambert OCD. Get your own life, already. Adam has one!

I'm not an American Idol fan and didn't vote for either, but thought I would get on here and point out that power texting was used for both candidates....not just for Kris. Check out this link on adam's own page – http://adam-lambert.org/power-texting-with-att/

Well it crossed my mind that perhaps Adam fans might have already had the knowledge on how to powertext too maybe AT&T didn't have to show them how to do it...in other words like someone else said. Get over it! I don't see Adam complaining!

We were able to vote?

OMG! Idol is so 2001! I refuse to watch this show due to tired gimicks and tricks! Idol has had it's day... Move on to something bigger and better FOX!

I have not thought that their voting system is a fair for a long time. I believe to get a true winner their should only be one vote per phone or IP address. I was truly shocked when Kris won, but in the long run Adam will have the more successful career.

How about reporting real news? What a novel idea.

they really have to switch to a one vote per phone policy, whether it be by text or by phone call.

Twice in 2 weeks Americans prove how homophobic they are....

I had no trouble getting through. Nothing stopped Adam voters from texting via ATT. If t he vote was at all close, they would have announced the margin, like they did the week before, and like they have done in previous years. Last year they announced
Cook won by about 14 % or so. Two parties in Arkansas didnt make the difference in 100 million votes.

Winning Idol isn't everything. Look at Taylor Hicks. So please get over it. Lambert is going to be a modern generation Elvis and Chris Allen is is awesome also.

AT&T has been a crooked company for over 100 years. Just more of the same. People keep giving their money to a company that did nothing but rob people blind for decades. AT&T should be punished.

Seems to me that this was just a great business idea by AT&T phone vendors in Arkasas. Frankly, AT&T should be upset that the stores in LA did not pick up on this. Nice idea to the sales reps.

I doubt this "watching party turned phone sales call" could have made a statistically significant difference.

My favorites from the beginning were Danny #1 and then Kris #2.
They both are very talented and portray the "American Idol" image.
My bottom line is that Adam has a dark side. He fits in with KISS really well. I would never let my children go to a KISS concert. I am hoping Adam will see lighten up music and make up.
There are many 60 year old women that vote and feel like I do!

"Good Lord, do you really think that the owners of American Idol made their decision based on votes? Hardly, that’s just a gimmick to make people feel they had a say in it. It’s all marketing. Chris obviously had more selling appeal and can make them more money in CD sales. As if people really buy CD’s anymore. More likely iTunes singles sales."

Hmm, does this theory apply to the season that Taylor Hicks won?

If we could only get this worked up about things that matter, like education, poverty, the economy, corrupt politicians stealing our childrens's future.....then maybe this country would be as great as it once was.

BTW: Only voted one time in all the seasons and it was for Kris several weeks back.

AT&T was invited by the locals, local employees (who are from Arkansas) went to these parties and that's about it. At no time did AT&T put out an announcement that they were officially sponsoring any watch parties. I live here, I would know. Kris did generate a huge buzz in Arkansas and all radio stations (regarldless of format) and TV stations were all over the 24/7.

Showing a person how to put the number in 10 times and then VOTE does not mean there was cheating.

Now, I know a family who is losing their home this week. The dad was in the auto industry, mom stayed at home. Neither can find a job and will be moving in with their underemployed son and wife. Hopefully soon they can find something. They just can't relocate, there is no money for that. They just can't go to school, no money for that either. Keep your eyes on the ball people, actual suffering is going on and right here in your American Idol backyard.

All the voting shows are a joke. Neal Boyd should not have won AGT and no way Shawn Johnson should have won DWTS.
Whoever made reference to the Quiz Show controversy is right, no way Fox and Simon Cowell are going to risk the type of penalties that would come from that type of activity.

We all know as talented as Kris is, he can in no way measure up to Adam's power house talent. However, I congratulate him on his win nonetheless. And if Arkansas cheated, well nuff said.

It's a crime!!!

Pelosi should investigate!

There was absolutely no comparison between the two! Allen had no business even making the top 3 of the show. He has no talent at all compared to Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey. After this season, I have no interest in watching American Idol again. I think it is a huge gimmick. The best person did not win, by far.

American Idol is Mediocrity for the masses anyways. There is not one musical legend that was manufactured the way American Idol tries to do. Legends are born through strife and hard work, not voice talent (Only) and "how to dress" coaches. It's ridiculous.

When I listen to all the comments,I have never heard such a bunch of sore losers.Kris won Let it be and stop sounding like a bunch of crybabies We have more important things to think about....Get a life for gosh sakes

I knew the final night was everything but a singing competition. Through out the weeks leading up to the final week I watched American Idol for the simplest reason, that it was a singing completion to show artistry instead of a platform to sort out social problems using the lives of two individuals. Now, I would like to thank both sides that took the fun out of this show and tell them to quietly sleep in the bed the made.
By the way the finale of Criminal minds was fantastic, which I watched instead of “American Issue” sorry meant to say Idol(singular).

I'm still mad about chris D.

American Idol is lame. Go away and put something good on TV. Jesus....

It really does not matter because Adam will benefit far more than Kris from the exposure he got from this show. The fact is Adam has more talent in his pinkie than Kris does in his entire body. Look at Chris Daughtry who finished something like 3rd or worse. I knew he would be much more successful in his musical career than any of the others that season.

This really should not have even been close enough for some AT&T pro-Kris promotion to have caused any swing votes to occur. Adam should have won by million and millions of votes. The voting public apparently likes boring performers like Kris.

Didn't Adam fall in the bottom 3 at least once during the competition? I don't believe Kris ever did. Is it so hard to think that not all Idol fans are rockers. Let it go...I bet California has a larger population than Arkansas, more potential voters? Come on folks, move on, this was a great season of talent and many of them were given a chance of a life time. Geeze, just think if you would all get as pasionate over the incredible spending and coruption in Washington (on both sides) we may be able to take our Country back from the greedy and self centered people that govern our Country today. Get real about something a little more important.

Two Words – Jennifer Hudson

Well after reading this article, it is apparent that Lisa Respers France a) had a deadline to meet, so she vomited this little gem onto CNN's website disguised as actual news; and b) is completely bias, beacuse when tagging the article (under which which words to find it under), placed "Adam Lambert, American Idol 2009" and THEN "Kris Allen." So basically, the story is here: it's one corporation's fault that the rest of America doesn't know how to use their cell phones efficiently??? Right... I'm pretty sure you can walk into any AT&T store during hours and the personell will spend as long as it takes to show you how to use your phone properly. So as far as unfair advantage is concerned, you're suggesting Arkansas as a swing state? Why? Because of "intial reports?" I believe those initial reports were already de-bunked by AT&T, so technically isn't that just hearsay? Where are those facts, we used to care so much about. CNN used to have standards... I think that Lisa Respers France is a closet "Lamb" that needs to be sheared and put back out to pasture. But hey, that's just an opinion... just like this "news" article.

Outrageous voting system on AI. It must be changed or ALL credibility will be lost.

To be honest neither one was good, they had no rhythm. I know people in church choirs that would make them sound like they just turned 15 and still in high school. American Idol don't know talent nor do the fans watching. I wish they would cancel the show, America has lost its way when it comes to entertainment. Tv is a joke now. I think the comp is who can create the worst show. The food channel looks better everyday.

Simple solution;
One vote per household and no texting...OH WAIT, that's how they make the money!! Sorry.

As to the winner, who cares? I won by having had the privilege of listening to them for free, every week for as long as they were on.

If you look at it that way, it becomes a positive. Stop the hate-they are both great.

kris.......Go back home you little GEEK!!!!!!! You will NEVER see the success that ADAM Lambert will have!!!!!!!! you little crooked mouth!!!!! Who knows if Kris is straight either????? The little blond could be paid just to show up at his side and throw people off.... EVer think about that? He looks AND acts a heck of a lot more GAY than Adam!!!!!!! Either way Adam Lambert IS THE 2009 PEOPLE'S CHOICE AMERICAN IDOL!!!!!!! kris is at&t's winner be default.

WHO GIVES A RIP? North Korea is threatening war and we worry about some TV show contest? We need to get our heads our of our rear ends and consider what's important!

Doesn't surprise me. I'm sure there lot's of areas when voting needs improvement, like one vote per house-hold number! Anyway Chris is the winner and we'll see Adam rocking soon with a new album! I don't think this is about Adam losing, it's about how fair was this win!

I visit CNN.com several times a day to get my news. And frankly, this is not news. Does anyone here care (or know) that N. Korea is testing nuclear technology or that our country is in dire economic times? American Idol is the epitome of what is wrong with this country....messed up priorities! Wake up people.

I KNEW something was fishy about this whole thing! Kris needs to be forced to give up the "Idol" crown that he OBVIOUSLY didn't "win" as a result of this situation!

This is unpossible, you people MUST care about amemrican idol, because CNN says you should!

It DOES matter in that the system needs to be corrected before the next season. I've always felt that there should only be one vote allowed per phone.

I agree with other statements that charge rigged voting. The show is supposed to rely upon a relatively fair and accurate counting system. Isn't it odd that the actual numbers are never revealed? That's a clue I think.

Honesty from Hollywood? Now who's dreaming?

At this point.....WHO CARES?! They will both have a career opportunity and whomever is destined for startdom will make it. Really, does anyone want to discuss Jennifer Hudson getting voted off when she did and now she is not only a Grammy winning artist, but she is also an Oscar winner. If they are destined to make it, they will. American Idol winners are not guranteed success, so honestly at this point.....WHO FREAKING CARES?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My god. I'd call this a problem. No sure what can be done about it, though.

I wish CNN would be above reporting this type of useless information, you are becoming like FOX, but on steriod, Get grip and stop being part of the lowlife of news

Give up everyone! If Adam won, he would NOT have flexibility to do the kind of music he wants to do under an AI contract. Many people succeed without winning AI. If he's good enough, he doesn't need the AI title. Just for the record – if your local radio station ever played clips of Adam, you can't tell me you enjoyed the screaching noises – unless you love that type of music.

GET OVER IT! Maybe Kris won because he has more talent and he appeals to a wider range of viewers. I'm sorry but Adam is not that great and people need to realize he LOST.

Apparently there were over 100,000,000 votes cast and over 40,000,000 of them came from Arkansas. 40 million from one state? Kinda odd that all the other states combined only cast 60 million.

This was fair and square. Every year we go through the same crying scene. Get over it, grow up and let the fun begin not only for Kris but for all 10 finalist.

It's over. Just move on!

THE ONLY WAY voting will be "fair" is if American Idol makes it so people can only vote once for their fav.

Adam Lambert WAS the best singer and entertainer and I would have bought his music and I don't buy much music.

But it sounds like, as usual, Kris won the "popularity contest" like all the other seasons. Forget about singing, talent, entertainment value.

Mary

I wish the FCC would review this 'bait and switch' and Adam needs to have his legal people get involved. If these allegations are true, the "win" is as fake as Ms. California's bust implants.

I think they both did real good.......there's no point creating so much fuss 'bout who was meant to win.....they both have a promising career.

Maybe the Bamster should give Adam a Stimulus Package as a consolation prize!

CNN,

Stop reporting this sort of garbage. There are a lot more important things going on in the world...this belongs on the E network...not CNN.

I knew that the voting could not have been done fairly ! Kris did not deserve to win. Adam is a true performer. He can sing anything.

It does not matter... Adam will be a huge success and Kris will be playing county fairs.

Our society does not realize cheating never pays.

Anyone who says Adam Lambert is a great singer must have a tin ear.
His whiny over the top style is great for the theatre but not for a record. I am a lifelong musical professional and I am shocked that people can't hear that.
About 90% of his high notes are out of pitch but people just marvel that a man can sing that high! Oh he must be so great, listen to how high he can sing !
Is he a great performer? Yes! Interesting? Yes! He wasn't even the 3rd best singer on this show! And I have more musical experience than the panel combined so I would know!
The votes don't count anyway, anyone who believes they actually count the votes is delusional and an idiot.
What gets the highest ratings is what is done on this show! Wake up suckers the votes have never counted!

It must be Democrates complaining about the votes!!!!

You sheep *really* believe that calling/texting in votes matters? If you do, you're seriously misguided. American Idol isn't in the business of scouting and promoting aspiring artists. They're out there to sucker you brainless half-wits who watch their crappy show. I'm appalled at the direction mainstream media has been going. The "music" that is being produced is garbage. Anyone can make themselves sound like a teeny-bopper pop star with the appropriate means and technology. The one thing that is hard to reproduce is the image. Some people have it, others don't. You could have an excellent voice but if you don't have "the look" or have a background of life struggles deserving of a Lifetime television movie, you won't be considered.
So if you sheep would get off your lazy arse, get away from the television and glamor magazines and enrich your life with local artists whom may not be well-known, in time you'll discover what it means to be truly talented. And as for American Idol... I hope for the sake of humanity, that show get pulled off the air.

It's over. No need to dig up stories about unfair advantages. I do think AI should consider a rule that only allows 1 phone # 1 vote. Texting your vote 10 – 50K times is just absurd.

Trust me Adam fans, he will have a great career. He made this season of AI exciting. I'm interested in seeing what he does next. Kris, congrats bud...but no thanks...I like my music with an edge.

This figures. Why is CNN interested in this? Just like everything else, they're putting a liberal swing on this. CNN wanted Adam Lambert to win. A liberal homosexual. hell, why don't they just give him Anderson Cooper's job.

They are both winners and will have careers.

So let me get this straight. Since someone sent 10 votes at one time rather than sitting there and clicking 10 times and so on, we are saying Adam should have won? Give me a break people. Kris won. They both will have great careers. The show is over. MOVE ON!

Definitely something was wrong. Technology has surpassed the voting process on Idol and they need to limit calls from the same number. DWTS does it–so should Idol. My son knows several different ways to autodial, superdial, or whatever. Not fair.

How about the "advantage" Entertainment weekly gave Lambert by putting him on the cover of their magazine a week before the finals?? Where was the press for Allen then? Get over it, the votes came in and Lambert is probably laughing all the way to the bank.

I voted for Chikeezie.

I think Adam is far more theatrical and would be great as a live concert act. Queen really should give him a shot. I'm suprised that all the foks moaning about how he lost and ATT was so unfair have nothing to say about how simon was virtually begging for people to vote for adam the last few weeks. I think he knew Adam wasn't getting the vote counts they wanted to see.

Illegal influences and satire run amuck and start contraversy. Shame on Idol sponsors pushing their conservative "church" choice..
I agree with Shawn, "One voice, one vote".
All you Kris fans know the truth or are simply brainwashed by radio ga ga. Even he is ashamed that these stories are surfacing his own doubts that this was somehow fixed.
I do hope Adam headlines with Queen!!

I live in Arkansas and you know what I think....SO WHAT!!!
Is American Idol this important? No it's not. We have a war going on and a psychotic dictator in N.Korea to deal with. Allen and Lambert are both going to get music contracts win or loose. That's how that ridiculous show works. Besides the winner is not guaranteed noteriety and success just cause he won that silly contest, look at some of the past American Idol winners. See I can't even name one so they must not have made that big of an impact. Get over it America. It's a pointless contest with even more pointless contestants and judges.

I've got to agree with Joel McHale from The Soup on this.

Adam won...........because he does not have to record Cara's crappy song as his first single. With the second place finish he'll have alot more freedom of choice when it comes to his career.

My prediction is that Kris will fade away like the other Idol winners and Adam will make it huge. Suck it Kris fans.

what does it matter at this point? the season, competition is over. let it go.

OMG who cares. They both will do just fine. Please remember this isn't Kris' fault so don't take it out on him.

Something in the voting definitely came up at the end favoring Chris Allen, it is impossible that an almost "written off competitor" of the competition could win a singer's contest in a "clean way". Adam Lambert deserved, as a better singer as he is, to win by miles in front of Chris Allen.

Who gives a rat's ***?? Honestly you sheeple who sit there night after night watching this drivel and voting need to wake up and do something with your lives.

There is nothing REAL about these reality TV shows.
They are all rigged.
I know this from having worked on 6 of them.
The winner is usually decide before taping even starts.

To ALL the Morons and Assinine Idiots who keep saying to "Move On" It's NOT as simple as that!! Granted being the winner doesn't mean a career, However, AT&T deserves and NEEDS to be Punished as well as FOX for this kind of despicable ILLEGAL Cheating. It's NOT FAIR to whoever is in the race!! It's a farce and this is more than likely what happened with Allison. I'll bet you Anything She wasn't suppose to be let go, but ole Slimey FOX & AT&T padded each others pockets and made a Farce and Laughing Stock out of this competition!! And Hopefully it will bite them Both in their rearends!! Hopefully some prosecutor who ACTUALLY stands for JUSTICE will start a investigation into this SHAM!!

Does it really matter? They both will have fantastic carreers.

Adam was asked to join Queen......

Kris......??Adam will not be tied into any AI promotions either.

Adam ROCKS!!!!

OK people, this is not a huge controversy and I’m sure these phones didn’t greatly swing the results. I voted for Adam around 50 times and loved him, but even I can recognize he is a love him or hate him type of performer. Kris has a more universal mainstream appeal like Gokey. I’m sure Gokey’s voters turned out and voted for Kris, not even making it close. Also, if memory serves me correctly, Kris was the top vote getter the previous two weeks, so it didn’t just come out of the blue that he was getting more votes than Adam. Kris FAIRLY WON and they’ll both have great careers, but ADAM ROCKS!

The only one who lost out, as far as I can see, is AI. They got stuck with an American Idol that will not sell any records. Adam should be laughing all the way to the bank...and so am I.

IT DOES MATTER, if there was voting fraud in American Idol!! This is a real lack of credibility when millions of $ are at stake and careers, so it DOES MATTER!

don't care either way, American Idol is just another greedy coperationwho just want money. I think the winning is picked before the final vote based on who and make more money for the show and who can get contracts before the "vote"

I wouldn't put it past AT&T.

WHO CARES ... this is a waste of space and time there are people being murdered all over the world and you people have nothing better to do then report on this ... OMG get a life

AI never HAD any credibility. It's a voting contest between fanbases, not a talent contest.

I think that we just need to let it go. I don't understand why every year somone has to try and dig something up. If your favorite singer doesn't win just take it like an adult. Adam is not upset and he has admitted that he wasn't in it for the title but for the exposure. Good grief he was aleady working on an album before he even started the show. I'm not even sure that should be allowed. They will both have great careers even Danny will probably get a record deal.

Us peoples from arkansas are just smarterer than yall. don't be mad. we won. we won. yall dummies. arkansas numero one all the time baby yah

Who cares? Oh I guess I must since I read the article. Must be nice to have time to play on cell phones all day and worry about who gets the next million dollar recording contract based on who the network likes the best.

Any real news to print today? What did Perez Hilton and Paris Hilton have for breakfast?

You know that something was up when the state of Arkansas alone contributed 38 million votes for Allen when the population of AK is only 2.6 million!!! How fair is that! Just proves that Idol is a joke.

I do not really care who was the winner. I care that the process was fair. The winner gets a recording contract. The winner gets money. The winner gets a title. What the contestants do with the opportunities and the winners are up to the contestants. However, the fact that there are prizes means that the competition must be fair. If there is any uncertainty about the fairness of the process, Idol might have two winners this year and take steps to improve the process for future competitions.

For those who see this as sour grapes - If you were in a competition and worked hard to win, would you want fairness? This reminds me of the game show scandals where one contestant is provided the winning answers and the others cannot win.

I tried numerous times to dial in my vote but could not get through on the final night. All my calls on previous nights went through. I felt very frustated and I,m an Adam Lambert fan. Regardless of who won the vote-Adam is far above Kris on talent, stage presence and will truly be a legend. Hele

I voted for 4 hours on a land line for Adam and only got through 20-30 times in 4 hours. I do not have an AT&T phone and noone gave me a free one so that I could text in votes for Adam.

Cheaters never win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It does matter because I paid for my text votes. If they were willing to let people vote for free (Arkansas), then they should not charge in the first place.

people have cancer in the world....and we should really care about THIS stuff???

Saying that Adam Lambert did not really "win" the singing contest is like saying Buick was not the main advertiser. I also agree both will have great futures but I am sure Adam will be the one to fill the concert halls. His gift of singing is obvious to anyone. Kris should not be punished though and both talents show alot of class. American Idol is just a show, these kids are the real talent and both will go on regardless of ATT and their dirty practices.

Get over it he won. They will both do good. who cares who or how they won it. Plus that would be a cool the way to vote like they did in Arkansas.. Whats wrong witha 22 year old kid from a small town in Arkansas winning american Idol. Conway Arkansas, not hardly as big as San diego. Plus with as bad as times are why not give us someting to be proud of here in middle America. Has anyone every been in Conway Arkansas. Untill you've seen it don't talk about it or it's people. By the way it got it's name from Conway Twitty. Country and western singer. Be happy for both kids they were good.

Kris deserve this. Adamam is a showman and yes he is good but Kris have really grown over the weeks and I'm proud of him. They both will have great careers.

Is this all people have to worry about? The economy is in the toilet, hundreds of thousands are out of work and most of the rest are struggling to hang on. Get a life and focus on helping out here.

Votes??? We're still recounting and recounting here in MN for Senate office.

Adam will rock on and be big. Kris will do good.

Hubby even states that Idol producers could have picked the idol at the Top 12 and the calls didn't matter anyways

I started as a Danny fan but once I saw Adam. LOOK OUT ..Adam sure showed it

I can't wait for a Lambert Concert. I'll be there in a heartbeat

As long as they keep the voting rules as they are now then there will always be questions. They want it that way, otherwise they would change it to you can only vote once and you vote for the one you want to leave.

You DO care or else you wouldn't have read the article.

I think that was EXTREMELY UNFAIR!!! American Idol/Fox Television should bring in an accounting firm and re-do the count!!!

I cant believe anybody cares! Everybodys excited over a big stupoid kareokee contest.

I was just waiting for this to happen...Kris cant even enjoy his victory without rumors of cheating and scandals. Sad....Adam i.m.o. was not as good as the news and entertainment sites made him out to be...he belongs on broadway-not selling pop, rock and so on.

Boy I'm glad I don't watch TV. Hey people, Get a life!

Who really cares? This is just a TV show designed to make viewers think they actually have a say in the end result... when they probably don't.
Personally, I would be really really glad to see all these kinds of silly shows run their course and disappear.

I KNEW the results were way off. Everyone knows that Adam (including Kris himself, which he ADMITTED) deserved to win. Even if voter fraud didn't make Kris win, it's all the stupid religious BIGOTS of this country that helped kris win. its a SINGING competition and Adam was better, simple as that. Well at this point, it doesn't really matter... bigots.

Seriously, we have more pressing issues than this. Better yet, maybe we need to turn off the American Idol altogether.

Kris did not have the support of Katy Perry who wore Adam Lambert's name on the back of her cape during her performance the last night of competition. I guess all is fair.

So what!!! A couple of sales people showed at a party and try to make a few sales. That one party didn't affect the outcome.

Really people? I'm ashamed of us for 1) reporting this kind of thing on a major news outlet and 2) for so many grown adults believing in audience voting. AI has no reason to make the votes count fairly and will do just fine continuing to brush votes to the side just like every other "interactive" tv show.

American Military Casualties in Iraq

Date Total In Combat

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4302 3450
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list) 4163 3342
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3841 3144
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3443 2817
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 74 15
American Wounded Official Estimated
Total Wounded: 31285 Over 100000

AI should make it like an election. Everyone who is interested in voting should register and can only vote once. Then it would tell who is the true winner.

Spilled milk. Why is it when people don't like the outcome of Idol they look for reasons to explain a loss? Adam is a standup guy and would never stoop to such shenanigans, so why are others raining on Chris Allen's parade? Despite any advantage the state of Arkansas had in voting, Adam is from California. Hello!

I don't care about American Idol or who wins. It doesn't really matter who wins American Idol. Artists with talents will make it one way or another. The important thing for anyone who desires to be a star is that they focus on their talent, get their name out there, and just keep trying.

It doesn't matter how someone gets to stardom...its the end product, the songs, the albums, the movies, whatever it may be that really matters!

AMY, don't start preaching. Everybody's idea of entertainment varies to one extent or another from one person to the next. Just because YOU'RE bored with AI doesn't mean it's not entertainment, and it certainly doesn't mean the contestants don't have talent. Both of the finalists are very talented at what they do, and will both do good things in their field.

I don't like gospel music. Not for the message, but for the genre. Am I telling you that you've lost your way because you like to listen to people sing in church? Besides, looks like to me Idol has a stranglehold on America, and America loves it right back, just the same.

Get over yourself.

The people who CARE are Adam Lambert fans like myself who do not HAVE AT&T service and therefore cannot text vote at all....

How UNFAIR to know that had I been a Kris fan in Arkansas who didn't have AT&T I could've just went to a watch party, been given an AT&T phone by an AT&T rep, and been not only allowed to vote, BUT SHOWN HOW TO POWER TEXT BY AN AT&T REPRESENTATIVE!!!!!!

No AT&T rep in MY town said, "Hey, here's a Go Phone–Power Vote for Adam!"

Such flagrant favoritism, on the part of a major AI SPONSOR, is WRONG, UNETHICAL, and a whole list of other adjectives that point to Tuesday night's voting being a mockery.

If you don't care about AI, fine. But don't you dare say it doesn't MATTER.

For those of us who watch it, and spend hours trying to cast a vote, this issue MATTERS.

What AT&T did is WRONG and should not be disregarded or ignored.

What's American Idol?

This is an obvious sign that the apocolypse is upon us!!!

Really does it matter? Kris will fade quicker than Taylor Swift's hair and Adam will go on and be a superstar and make gazillions of dollars and then return to Musical Theatre and finally take on the role of Phantom. That's reality. Sadly, American Idol will NEVER EVER be fair, until it can be fixed and NOT rigged, that people can only vote ONCE from one phone number or from ONE text number. OR take the votes out of the pre-teens hands and let an impartial group of industry heavy-weights make the final decision. That being said, if that happened this year, Adam would have been crowned during week 10 let alone the finale. AI has one more year left, after that, we need to get back to selling records and fixing the music industry with talent.

It's rigged nomatter now you count the votes. Do I really care though? Nope.

I find it hilarious to read comment after comment when the posters can't even spell the supposed "winner's" name right. That tells you something doesn't it? It's "Kris" people, not "Chris."

I think one vote per person is enough. Why so many votes are allowed is completely off the chart.

I mean, honestly, WHO GIVES A FLYING FIG? Every so-called reality show is nothing but scripted unreality.

Who care they will both do well in life.

Anyone ever hear of vote for the worst? Check out the website
votefortheworst.com. I am sure they helped in getting Kris as the winner.

The most amazing news from this story - people in Arkansas know how to use cell phones!?

Adam was and is more talented and is a better singer and that is pure fact, but the phone thing...simple its all money. AT&T simply wants as many texts as possible for the money. I would like to see Idol and AT&T to give up the money for a system of one phone number gets one vote and for idol to open it up to any phone company for 1 phone 1 vote. After all....could you imagine what our politucal system would be if only AT&T text users could elect a president? Could you imagine what kind of president there would be if people could have unlimited votes? How can AI say that Kris had the majority people voting for him with a multy texting option. It's a cash grab and Kris is actually a victim, because his career is over before it even started. He can sit at home multy texting with the wife he never talked about.

I don't believe in voting period. Not in presidential elections, neither less in American Idol. It's all fixed. Adam should have won if it was a real talent competition, but since it has become an "Underdog Pitty Competition" then I guess Chris fits better in that category.

Adam can now keep on being wild and crazy and chose what he wants to do without having any stupid commercial ties with any shows. Adam has won this competition since the very beginning. Too bad America wasn't ready for him.

Ever wonder why we never get to see the actual results? The raw numbers? We the public vote, we're told who is 'at the bottom' and has to leave, but are never told the exact breakdown of numbers........ or am I just missing it somewhere?

This is a serious issue, ATT created the voting system and then sponsored a weird result. We would all argue the voting process if it was uniform anyhow, but here is an exponential process that caused a result that was different than what even Kris thought was the result. Co-Idols might be the way to retire this. But I am really concerned about ATT's propriety. They made money off our texts and services. If there is not a good answer, I propose ATT refund all text fees for Jan-May for anyone that texted with ATT. There are larger issues if you read all the blogs about why people in Arkansas thought Kris had to win because of beliefs.

1 – It's important because most likely Kris did not actually win.

and

2 – Idol needs to change things for next year.

BRAG all you want that you voted 10,000 times plus, give me a break, VOTING competition go for it, as far as singing, that speaks for itself. I guess that is the only way to get the dark horse to the top.

1 vote= 1 person and lets see who really won?

Keep it and take American Idol and AT+T and play your little games, I will not be bothered with the BS anymore, obviously the best talent did not stand a chance.

Nobody said anything, but everybody felt that there was something fishy. It was so obvious that Kris couldn't offer spectators as much for their money as Adam could. Kris seems to be the first one embarrassed about it in my opinion, and I feel bad for him.

So viewers who voted for Kris because of religious reasons and/or by homophobia just put a bullet to his leg that he'll have to drag all his life. Fans who voted by illegal and/or unfair means just attached the word "fraud" to Kris reputation; I find that to be unfair to him.

May the real American Idol stand up!

OMG!! Give it a rest already!!

Adam is HAPPY with the outcome, WHY CAN"T YOU BE AS WELL???? You dont' see either one of these guys bashing each other over it. This was not a life or death situation people. If you want to get this serious and passionate about something, why not pick homelessness or child abuse or finding a cure for cancer?

Adam sucked. Who would want to hear that high pitched twangy scream on an album?

Amanda G Are you out of your mind???? You are so OFF the subject about your poor little couple who are out of a job etc...Where in the Hell does this fit in with the story at hand that YOUR "SUPPOSE" to be talking about?? Who gives a rat's behind that some under-educated people have to move?? MOVE ON ALREADY, Pick Up a Glove and Join the Game!!

Haha, I don't know why I read this story.... I guess i'm really bored.

But anyway, I did read it, and I read some of the comments....

And all I can say is American Idol fans are incredibly lame.

"boohoo, if I knew my vote wouldn't count, I wouldn't watch!!"

"omg teen idol #1 totally should have won it! I knew it lol!!"

"omg teen idol #1 fans, get over, teen idol #2 totally won fair and square"

I would say go back to your high school algebra homework, but sadly I get the feeling you're all much older than that.

PATHETIC!

this season and this season ONLY there should not be a titled winner.
adam and kris came in first, danny in second.
the Only reason i say this is because clearly all through out the season adam has had the best vocals, AI is a singing show and vocals are used to sing. since fans by passed the voting rules and Made kris get the title. the voting company is at fault. it seems ATT textS from kris voters got an Advantage.
one from a couple things can happen:
officials do nothing
recount votes Excluding votes from the "parties" where att assisted kris fans
recounting will take months but it is a fact now that kris fans got the upper hand
fans deserve to know the truth
fans made american idol and we want the truth

others things play into this
besides
kris voters got the advantage
danny's popularity for reasons Outside of singing
voters voting against adam for reasons Outside of singing

i have nothing against AI or kris. he seems like a down to earth guy. he seems polite but his voice is not strong, consistant, balanced. his range does not reach low to high notes. vocally speaking adam's voice is Not flat.

adam won the show
kris has the title
the cameras are gone
this season both should be treated equally, but one is being given the advantage

FANS can NOT Cheat.

fans did the results change

one vote per landline
one vote per text

Enough already, you are setting Kris up for failure just by acting as though he shouldn't have won. Adam was in the bottom two several times. He has a personality and song style that not everyone enjoys. Kris won, let him have his glory. Adam will do just fine w/out being the winner. As far as I am concerned the right man won. Kris was good and his down to earth personality fit more with what I saw as an "American Idol" than Adam did.

I wanted Kris to win . However, I wanted him to win fair and square. If he did not ( by no fault of his own) , then we need a recount , or in this case a re-vote !

Cort, I agree that the votes don't count for anything and the producers make their own choice. Leaving major business decisions (such as who gets a record deal) to the general public could end up being disastrous if enough people united.

However, I think they are so confident in Adam's ability to sell records/downloads that they made Kris win in order to: 1) Generate controversy and buzz (and it's working, we're all STILL talking about it), 2) give Kris some sort of credibility to help bolster his record sales.

I've seen reports that iTunes accidently leaked sales results and it showed that Adam owned 5 or 6 of the top 10 slots (overall, not just Idol contestants), while other idols only had 1, if any. Clearly Adam will sell records easily without winning. I don't think Kris would have had the same situation coming in second. This way Idol benefits the most, both in total record sales, and in attention – two things 19 Entertainment love very much.

Who gives a rat's behind?

Spend this much time and attention on the actual political elections in this country. It has an actual impact on your life, and would be a much more productive use of your energy.

Unpossible! You must care because CNN says you should!

Keep deleting this, and I'll keep posting it. Capice?

I'm not going to debate which contestant deserved to win, even though I am an Adam Lambert fan. Both guys deserved to be the winner for different reasons, and both guys will have successful careers after the show.

My issue is that, I believe that the show needs to adopt a one number – one vote policy. One voter should not be able to cast hundreds of votes. It no longer becomes a vote, but rather a sweepstakes, in which the winner is determined by how many entry forms they filled out. It is ballot box stuffing.

The downside is, it would hurt the show's ratings if the true voter base was only 5-10 million distinct viewers rather than the 100 million voters that the show boasts.

This does not surprise me. Shows are always manipulated. Chris had 4 great performances in the whole show for me, good luck to him, and I still feel Adam should have won by miles, all his performances were outstanding!! But I am glad in a way he didn't win because now he is free from Idol and will have a marvellous international career because he is just that brilliant! Go Adam!

I'm neither an Adam or a Kris fan, but from my perspective, Adam will get a contract and have an amazing career whether he won American Idol or not. Kris now has that same opportunity because he DID win. I think America was being fair and giving them both the same opportunities.

On the official forums at American Idol there are 304,500 posts for Adam. There are 24,757 for Kris. And, Kris won??? Nationwide there were problems telephone voting for Adam (busy signals, etc.). Text votes (for both Kris and Adam) were not confirmed until the next morning. Usually these are instantly confirmed via text message by AT&T. A lot of people did power voting with texting. I personally paid $20 for the GoPhone from AT&T and paid for $20 for 30 days of unlimited texting. One call yielded 10 votes. A lot of people did. Now we find out AT&T offered free phones and free texting in Arkansas. Something is not right about this. They are a sponsor of the show. The results are totally unreliable now. Now I really do not believe Adam lost. I don't want anything taken away from Kris, he is a good singer and really nice and is innocent in this whole mess. He did not cheat, AT&T did. Two winners at this point is the only way to go.

When will America's embarrassing obsession with "celebrities" end? When I was coming up, in order to be famous, you actually had to be good at something. Now you just have to look cool and show up at the right parties. Celebrity worshippers now are easily impressed. But the fact is, none of these "Idols" would have been heard of if they had to make it on their own merits. And almost none of them is an original. They just sing songs made famous by better, more accomplished artists.

Poor Kris-his win will forever be shadowed by doubt. . .way to go AT&T.

What a shame that At&T chose to choose sides. It certainly seems that the lines were always " tied up" when dialing Adam's numbers.
I think that what AT &T did was extremely unprofessional and I expect an apology from then and from AMERICAN IDOL . That's ridiculous, and sounds like CHEATING TO ME ! THE ONLY comfort I get from the whole thing is that Adam will absolutely outsell Kris's music ten-fold ....
Kris did his best, but just doesn't have it folks.
Check out the DVR tape of the final show and look at Simon Cowell's face , he knew that Adam is the true American Idol and was disgusted that pretty boy Kris had won.

Yawn ;-\

I think some people are poor losers. Check Itunes. Why is Lambert at #7 if he is so good. Kris is at #4- he deserves to enjoy his win. You sound like bullys. Kris you are the American Idol. Simon may be having a problem separating the different shows he is on. He is looking for a Paul Potts (Has become a Very Talented opera singer from one of Simons shows) at American Idol thus the screeching of Lambert. Lambert is a showman thus the aha's. Kris is serious and down to earth. Enough already, let it rest. The best singer won.

YES, THIS IS ABS AWFUL.... If Adam lost to a scandal than it needs to be publicly announced however I dont think the title should be taken and given to anyone. its done and overwith. I knew something was wrong when i only got thru a number of times and OUR ADAM LOST. INVESTIGATE SO IT DOESNT HAPPEN TO SOMEONE ELSE. THROW AWAY AT&T AMERICAN IDOL. GET RID OF THEIR SERVICE. RIP OFFFS. WE ALL KNOW ADAM IS THE REAL AMERICAN IDOL. THIS IS JUST AWFUL AND I PROBABLY WONT WATCH OR VOTE AI EVER AGAIN.

Are we seriously to the point where we need to demand a recount of a reality show's votes?? Get a life, people. If the guy who didn't win is truly a great singer, then he'll still be successful. Period. Saying that AI is a huge conspiracy is bull, and I would rather have the government investigating LEGITIMATE issues than such an insignificant television show.

1. There's a crown???
2. He didn't cheat.
3. 1-800 VOTERFRAUD. LOL
4. Wow! this story has a lot of comments.
5. Really, GET OVER IT!!!

I'm amazed to read how many people think it's a non issue for possible cheating of any kind. In the future, I think American Idol should limit the number of votes cast by any means. Drop AT&T as a sponsor if they don't like it. They make enough $$'s from the American public as it is.

Wow really? Get a life!

Chuck:

Shouldn't you be out picketing somewhere? You don't belong here.

It's not a matter of who won or lost THIS year: it's a matter of integrity and honor!!! Idol is based on a Consumer Voting history; Ryan proudly announces each and every week "We received ____ amount of votes." That is assumed that they were honestly given and reflect the actual voting public.

For AT & T to be party to aiding and abetting the vote tally, for ANYONE is corrupt and dishonest. It will backfire both on Idol and AT & T when people refuse to vote in the future, reducing the show to a laughing stock and AT & T's money they drag in from text voting.

I like both Kris and Adam and they both have great careers ahead of them, but I'd like to have them achieve that fame honestly!

Come on, let's get real. I know how to send messages to more than 1 contact at a time, it's not rocket science people. If Adams' fans didn't know how to do that on their own....

No No No. Kris did not win fair and square!! Adam was robbed and treated like crap! You get over yourself! I am so tired of all the cover ups and lies. Adam deserved to win that title and not only did AT&T give out phones, they gave out hundreds for Kris only!! with over 50 voting stations etc.. I know what paula said on Larry king live and I love her, but everyone knows that they just want to put it bhind them and move on. I do like Kris, but really, Adam was clearly the winner and so much hate toward him caused by the bible thumpers who have no clue as to what love and honesty truly means. Go ahead and try to get adam out of the picture because they think he is a certain way. How stupid and they put their foot in their mouth the second that arkansas paper came out last week. then it suddenly disapears> Everyone is in on it, and they are still trying to minimize what really went down, not just a couple of phones but hundreds!! and that is not all, AT&T had Adam votes go to Kris!!! This is crazy, at this point something needs to be done, and I am so DONE WITH AMERICAN IDOL!! Adam is the only reason I watched as I never watched the show and now it really stinks!! Ryan Seacrest needs to learn some manners on how he treats people, especially adam. I am so done, people" Adam is going to be the biggest Superstar ever!! You wait and see!

I don't know why this is still being debated. I am a Kris fan, and Arkansas resident. California, or anywhere else for that matter, could have done the same thing, but didn't. It doesn't make the "power texting" that happened in Arkansas unfair...the Adam fans are just upset that they didn't think to do it too. Both guys are incredibly talented and will go on to have successful careers, so why not focus on that, rather than who won, or the voting? Everyone knows that just because you aren't the "winner", that doesn't mean anything. Remember Chris Daughtry, Katherine McPhee, Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson, etc?

Not good! if it's true... Voting manipulation? NO! NO! NO! Never! Never! Never! Even for a singing competition... (actually it's not as unimportant as it looks... it's pop culture... it has an influence on people).
It should never be allowed! It's not about Chris or Adam at this point. There are fine, they will have both great career! There are things we shouldn't play with and voting is one!

vote early, vote often

so unfair! ..
adam should have won of course!

I found this story quite interesting since I have AT&T myself. So not knowing anything about power texting I searched the internet. It appears fans for Adam Lambert were doing the same thing. See this link: http://adam-lambert.org/power-texting-with-att/

How many people were at these voting parties? Why did the AT&T representatives think it right to attend only ARK parties? Bloc-voting? Really.
Sounds like fraud....smells like fraud....must be FRAUD.
Love AT&T's explanation....only a few phones....only 2 parties.....wow, that sure clears the air. And then, those attending were given lessons in how to vote in mass numbers.....just lovely.
Shame on AT&T.....customer service in ARK just keeps on giving.
Those razor-backs sure play a mean game of texting for the home boy.

If you guys/gals have such an issue with the winner and/or AI, just stop watching. They don't have to cancel the show! I think both singers were talented, but I really didn't like Adam near the end. EVERYTHING he sang ended up with a high-pitch squeal. Sounded like a pig in pain and he was my favorite from the beginning! Who really wants to buy a CD expecting to hear 10-12 different songs, and hearing the same squeal from all of the "different" songs? Adam sure 'personalized' all of the songs, to a screaming finale!

The week before I was able to get almost 500 votes in 2 hours with 1 phone, but the week of the final, using 2 regular cell phones I could only get 222 votes in 4 hours.
Something was wrong!!

The solution to the voting problem is: 1 call, 1 vote.
They need to figure out a way to cancel the phone number
after a vote is made. Also they should charge a fee to vote.
Monies from the fee would be given to a different charity every week.
Some people have made this a popularity contest, and thats a shame.
This is suppose to be a musical performance contest.
Musically speaking, Adam is the winner. Chris is more popular.
On any given weekend you can see "Chris" playing in a local band.
Adam is very different. He's a major talent, he's a star. Period
I've been calling Adam: Freddie Mercury for months now.
Seems like I was right.....

I think its time to let it rest. Adam will still have a successful career whether or not he won or lost American Idol. I though the judges giving a contestant this a second chance was DUMB. Because, I though American public was voting for the American Idol... I'm glad Chris won because he talented young man

Get a life you all, this is getting creepy. Of course AI wants to get as many votes in as possible because AI and ATT both make a bundle with all these calls. Of course they make sure the right one wins or at least the one they want to win wins.

How about we all go out and volunteer to do something to help our country in these hard economic times, now there's a place to put our energy.

Who cares? The winner gets the most promotion from AI. AT&T should not as a sponsor participate in aiding voters. If so they should have done so for both.

They should create a senate oversight committee and as mentioned MANY times before... WHO CARES?

OH MY DOODNESS.......I'm crying and just can't believe my pretty boy sweetums didn't get a fair vote. The world is coming to an end I have nothing left to live for. Oh God....please help us all.
(idiots)

I must of tried voting for Adam 50+ times the last two hours they were accepting votes and was only able to get my vote in 3 times. Idol needs to change their text policy.

Oh, and Kris will not sell a ton of records like peole predict. He'll put out a few songs over the span of 3 years and then vanish. Adam will become a rock legend.

GET OVER IT ALREADY. Its not like Adam is not going to get a record deal. Get on with your life already.

i demand a recount!!!!! adam prolly wouldve won, otherwise.

I call every single week to vote for adam. and adam alone! the last two weeks I was gettin bumped off as soon as I called which never happens. I was worried the week before the finale. then the finale comes and I vote for 4 hours and for an hour straight I was kicked off three phone lines!!! what the heck is the??? I usually get in about 1,110 votes for adam the first hour maybe 30 or so at most not even. then the 2nd hour I am still gettin kicked off but got in but not as many as usual. I honestlly feel the whole voting system was rigged in Kris's favor. Not Kris's fault, but I am very angry. I know adam is fine, but he truly deserved the title and even kris said it!! because it is true!! It is really sad and I am so sick of hearing one lie after another, first it was hundreds of go phones by AT&T given out for Kris fans now its just a few? bull. There were hundreds!!! If your going to tell the story tell it right, not to mention all the other complications with this whole voting thin. Idol and fox were in on it I promise you!! A show I will never watch in a million years again!!!!! Anyway, Adam is far to good for that keoreoke show!!! I am so done! and they better do somthing now to fix this!

Well, At&T drops calls alot, The Iphone could be so much better with verizon. And now they are involved with fixing a competition.

I have AT&T I voted for adam, I bet their system was down and they just picked a name out of a hat. AT&T since cingular took it over is horrible. American Idol is just another broken straw they need to fix

But I agree Adam should have one, But both will have great careers.
We shouldn't worry about them, the situation is moot.
American Idol, isn't know for picking american idol, its usually the runner up's that do well. Because people don't vote on talent, just looks. And that usually doens't sell

The voting was in all likelihood semi-fair, at least as fair as phone and text voting can be. What you are all missing is that the AI judges (Simon in particular) were counting on Adam winning. The show has been geared toward Adam for weeks, be it the songs chosen to the stage effects. It was great seeing Simon's reaction when Ryan announced Kris won. I think it is great that America showed AI what they really thought. Adam was the makeup pasted cookie cutter thing AI wanted and what they got was a sensational artist in the making named Kris.

At 12:35pm Aaron posted that Adam is not bound by the lame "No Boundries” song now that he came in second. First of all, it was obvious that that ridiculous song was written FOR ADAM! His tone and continuous screaming like a wounded animal were perfect for that song and Kris actually sounded not nearly as good as Adam singing it. Second, Adam is bound by the song which is why he is the only one you hear singing that horrible song on the radio. AI was counting on Adam winning which is why “No Boundries” hit the airwaves the next day with Adam singing it. Remember, AI said the winner would get airplay with them singing “No Boundries” and a record deal. Glad to see the machine had a malfunction.

Adam clearly had more talent as far as musical range goes. As far as what could be tolerated by the judgmental rural receptors still using analog Allen had more of the cut and dried plow boy safe appeal that could be permitted on Little Rock television before 8:00 P.M. and so goes the financier’s demands for every metro-church up and down tornado alley throughout Texas, Oklahoma and the Midwest. Adam has the talent and the choices he makes will deliver the results. Lambert doesn’t need to be of the winning idol alum to be a real star…he already is! Staying one will be his job. With Allen it’s a different story. He's been drafted. Now it’s up to him to make it to practice and show the majors what he has! If he knocks it out of the park chances are he will win some fans over. Otherwise like many draft-picks heard about early on, he'll return to the farm to do his killing rat killing while whistling Dixie!

i don't belive for a second that AT&T or AI cheated anyone....their smarter than that....that would cause major, major, MAJOR! lawsuits, .........nothing was rigged......Kris won fair and square......now all you sore losers need to get over it....by the way....i'm a Kris fan....and I did NOT vote...and he won anyway....oh, and Adam, your a great singer also, you'll go far in your career.....!!!!!ARKANSAS ROCKS!!!!!!!!!

In any other election, when you vote more than once it is called fraud.
In US elections, it is punishable by jail time !

Why should 20 million votes be cast from Arkansas when there are only 3 million people in that state?

Simply Amazing!!!!
War in Iraq and Afganistan, genocide in Darfur, North Korea about to shoot off nuclear missiles, human rights violation in Myanmar (which I'll bet not even half of you people know where it is), and this is what you waste you energy on! Pages and pages of comments about who is the best singer, but hardly any comments about the situation in Asia! Pathetic!!! No wonder why our country is going down the crapper! You idiots are watching some STUPID tv show while the world burns!! I think its time you imbeciles GET A LIFE!!!!

The right decision was made. Enough of the whining. Adam will have a great career on Broadway (which he has said quite frequently he wants more than anything) and that's about it. The only bestselling album he'll have is the soundtrack to RENT. "Tell the folks at home, what you're doing Roger..."

Dear Lord!! Isn't that show over yet?

Who cares? People like us glamberts who have voted and knew somthing was up because we were kicked off for an hour straight!! not to mention the AT&T thing, the whole thing is wrong and how disgusting!! it's so unfair!! Never going to watch that show again, where adam goes we go!! Remember Adam is a Universal Idol now!! He has a huge fan base!!!! Idol hever had this before. He is far to good for that show and the way he has been treated!! I wish Kris won fairly but he didn't I do feel for him. but I really feel for adam...

DEBBIE, go cry somewhere else!!

Kris won and there's nothing you can do to change it. Wish him & Adam the best. They will both be on the radio soon enough.

Will you all just please get a life!!!!! This is a show, for the love of God. Does it really matter who won? They found 12 new talents and displayed them for our entertainment.... Who wins or does not win is purely arbitrary..

I want to ask anyone that is concerned about this how in anyway does the outcome of a TV Show change your life? Please lets worry about things you can help with like helping employ Americans and cleaning up the world...

Lets get real people!!!!!!!

While it seems that Kris may have been given an unfair advantage over Adam, there are two important things to consider:

1. This isn't really news, and

2. There's nothing scientific or fair about AI's voting practices anyway, so what difference does it make?

I mean, come on. If AI wanted to be truly fair it would be one person/one vote. Instead, people can vote as many times as they want (more $$$ for AT&T), so if 999 individuals vote for Adam and one person votes for Kris 1000 times, Kris wins.

Fair? Hell no. Worth getting upset about? Absolutely not. Both young men are happy, they both have the same shot at a career, and let's face it, America, we got bigger problems. Let it go.

My guess is that people are upset – including me – because it was unprofession and unethical for any AT&T employee(s) to do this. Since AT&T is a gigantic sponsor of American Idol, I think they ought to abstain from voting – as the judges do – but that is my personal opinion only. I do think that the outcome was a travesty – I believe had this ten-times texting fiasco DID in fact sway the vote.

I personally feel AI should adopt the voting methods used by DWTS. One vote per phone line. Period. This gazillion votes a minute is assinine.

What is done is done, and although I was disappointed in the outcome, only because I feel Adam is far superior in talent to Kris, I was also very happy for Kris. I think he is an amazingly talented singer. I just have trouble comparing him against Adam. Both will be hugely successful, but I'll pay much more attention to Adam's career than to Kris, because I think Kris is a rather cookie-cutter entertainer, compared to Lambert. IMHO.

Adam Lamber was terrible anyway! Good thing he didn't win. Queen is a perfect fit for him. I love the band, but like the name says, they're all a bunch of Queens. Adam's drag show will fit perfectly there.

Okay, I'm a Adam Lambert fan, but it's okay he didn't win. He will still have an amazing career, so stop mhining and be happy for him!

NO ONE...Will ever know what the real score was..They said 100 Million votes..I don't believe It !!....We all know who the winner was..I think someone from AT&T should get Fired..

Was the vote fair? Every American Idol vote is so fundamentally flawed that one weird incident here or there is just icing on a very foul cake. The fact that they don't reveal the final tally tells all you need to know. The results were probably embarassingly weird. The fact that people can vote numerous times skews the whole thing. And then, Idol reveals the total vote count as if that many people voted one time. Ridiculous. The absurd way the vote is handled would be fine if people didn't take ithe results seriously,...but they do. I shake my head every time I think about how crazy the voting process is. Until they change it, I don't know why anyone cares what the results are. They're never legitimate.

And just how does anyone really know who all those people voted for?!?! I doubt if everyone in Arkansas is a Kris fan. And there were people power texting for Adam, myself included. So yes, please give it up! They are both great and will both have great career opportunities.

there once was a singer named adam
whose talent noone could fathom
his singing was best
far better than the rest
but talent was noy worth 'a dam"

Get over it! It's only a TV show. If you have ever paid any attention to this show, you will notice that you don't have to win to do well.

Why not 1 vote per phone line? That would be more accurate.. Stop the goo-goo eyed voters from casting multiple votes,... This is ridiculous.

I think "AI" loves to say "28 million voters were cast last night" but if they had a fair system, I bet only 12 millions votes were really cast.

They have to come up with a realistic voting system because this is not right. I am not going to watch AI next year unless they redo this because the current system has too many flaws and is unfair.

OK, if you don't think there's a thing wrong with AT &T's Text Enhancement scheme – here are American Idol's stated rules-

"American Idol" rules say votes made through "technical enhancements" could be thrown out " .......... and that's exactly what Arkansas and AT & T did !!!

Great job Adam, as the judges commented, you are the most talented artist they have seen on the show in a long time. You gave 100% through out the whole season. Your fans look forward to your first album. Just as Kris said, you deserve the title . Kris seems like a sweet person, but for goodness sake people , this is a singing competition.

OK SANDY--maybe the block votes were ALREADY thrown out. How do you know they weren't? Perhaps Kris won without those extra votes because the Lambs thought Adam had it won already!

You should probably wait to comment after AT&T releases their statement later today.

You are worried about Kris getting an advantage?? What about advantage from the show?? That was 100% for ADAM. All the judges were for him and even the entertainers came out with him name on her back. Give me a break!!

I don't agree with what AT&T did, but don't make your remarks like ADAM got the shaft here!!

You know, I had a gut feeling something was "really fishy"..I mean Kris is good, but come on Adam is leaps and bounds a much better singer, and stage presence. Even when Kris was told he is the American Idol for 2009, he was really shocked and said Adam should get the reward. If in fact this is found to be true with AT&T employees in Arkansas, there needs to be a "recrowning" and accomplished as soon as possible, but first ; America is going to expect a News conference , with an apology from AT&T, and also an internal investigation on the employees responsible for this possible integrity issue.

Either way, Adam rocks !

De Long

I would like for someone to investigate the phone situation. Several friends and family members all over the state of Texas tried to vote by phone for Adam Lambert, all three numbers, for 3 HOURS, and it was continually busy. This is very troublesome when AT&T is the only phone service that texting is available....

Adam will be fine, but this is more on principal. Why bother with the entire charade if the results are skewed through power texting and/or phone line problems.

It doesn't matter who won or lost, it is about a very flawed voting process, this article just shows how flawed it is. Clearly AT&T gave one contestant a slight advantage over the other contestant, albeit very slight. How we vote for the next American Idol should be revised and revamped, to make it fair for all contestants. Allowing only AT&T customers to text in votes is unfair to everyone else who doesn't have AT&T. Texting is faster than dialing and you are more likely to get your votes in with texting, than getting a busy signal and have to press redail over and over again. After all the whole idea of this show is to let the public choose the winner, but when the voting process can be manipulated to give one person an advantage over the others the point becomes null and void.

Probably the same radical Republican mentality that gave us Diebold electronic voting machines. They can't win fare and square, so they must cheat!

It is against show rules for a sponsor to sway the results. Therefore, the results are invalid.

THis will taint Kris's win forever! Adam will be great either way. He always was. Poor Kris. He already had a hard time thinking he deserved to win. Now, we know why. Anyway, Adam is the greatest. Can't wait to see him in concert.

The question is, who will be stupid enough to vote next time? What's the point? People here are not just crying wolf because they are sore losers as implied by the Kris fans. It would be interesting to hear how they would feel were the tables reversed. What this does, however, is make Kris doubt even more whether he was deserving of the title. And that is a shame. Adam will be fine, I'm not so sure about Kris.

American Idol" rules say votes made through "technical enhancements" could be thrown out, if detected. That's exactly what the Arkies and AT & T did ........

What a farce ........... RECOUNT........

AI prides itself on public votes determining the winner. Nice idea at first. However, over the years technology and more viewers has made the winner determined by whomever's fans can get the most votes in the fastest. So, all the winner can take pride in is his/her voters were faster. AI needs to find a way to limit votes to one per phone #. And don't allow texting. It can be done. e.g., I believe Dancing With The Stars limits 5 per phone line.

Get Over it Adam lost fair and Square. Do you not remember how many times he was in the bottom. He was not a Good Singer at all. He Runied every song he re did. If I were the original singers of the songs I would have been ticked off. Im tired of having to look at him on the show. I did not vote for either. However Kris was a better singer. I always favored the Blind guy that was on the Show. He has more talent I think. Since he could sing and play different instruments. Just be glad Adam made it as far as he did.

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO this is hysterical! Adam fans didn't have the same opportunity to learn how to power text? Really? If they'd thought of it, they could have held parties and invited AT&T reps.

You guys are slaying me, really. Go get a life and stop whining about who did or did not win, and coming out with all these conspiracy theories. Every single season there's conspiracy theories, happily fueled by the press. Come on already. Adam isn't crying, why should you? Enjoy the music of the person you prefer (they'll both have albums out this year, after all) and show your support in the REAL way to tell who is successful. Buy their albums. See their shows.

It's just television, people. Not the future of mankind. Let's keep it in perspective.

Crimes cannot be swept under the rug because people think they are 'unimportant' or don't want to upset the status quo.

Wow... Took a minute or two during my lunch break to peruse the CNN blogs. Absolutely unbelievable! To all the people who are complaining because they were only able to vote 300 times – do you have a job? Do you have friends? Do you regularly speak to actual human beings, or just your clan on Warcraft?

Al Gore started all of this. I can not believe that no one can just WIN anymore.
Kris won fair and square....NO CHADS

I wish people who DON'T CARE wouldn't comment at all, because, THEY DON'T CARE. So why bother telling us you DON'T CARE. I don't care if you don't care. Go comment on something else. Chris is the next Ruben Studdard (sp?). Adam's problem was he was an obvious "ringer". Good though. All voters should get only one vote per phone number.

some have wrote in about canceling the show. I agree with this because it isn't the vote that counts. It is the producers and their final say. I am glad Adam didn't win because now he has the freedom to do what he wants and go where he wants, Kris is stuck under the contract

i think let other cell companys text in because i do not have att i have verizon .i think it was wrong for them to do that for one person and not the other person

To those of you who says that it doesn't matter. I say it does.
It's simply not about Adam anymore.

I hardly doubt that AI didn't know about this. So it means that it was a collaboration between them.
Well, first of all, it's a FRAUD for a company that sponsors the show to influence the votes in any ways.
Second, the question remains (if it's true what they say about votes and AT&T): WHY did AT&T fixed the votes?
We have the obvious answer to this question. It's been discussed to death in the news, on blogs, message boards etc etc.

So to people who says that it's only about Adam and title of a winner of AI I say: think about what it means first and what the consequences would be if Adam won, just from a cultural perspective.
And then say that it doesn't matter.

This is why each caller should only be allowed one vote. The highest number remains the same - it doesn't have to be in the millions for a winner to be chosen.

I strongly believe that it was totally unfair and that they should do a revote or re-tally the votes without the texts being counted and publicly announce Adam as the true winner and pubicly apologize to him. I also dissagree with the whole texting thing as long it it is only available to AT&T Customers. I tried the whole entire time to vote via telephone and could not get through and I could not text in my votes for Adam since I am a T-Mobile Customer. I am confident that I am not the only Adam fan that could not submitt my votes due to the same reasons I could not. So, I believe that Kris only won because his fans were handed free AT&T Cell phones and were taught how to power text which was totally unfair! I strongly believe that American Idol should do away with text votes all together and allow people to vote online like Dancing With The Stars does. Since Kris won unfairly by people cheating on his behalf I really do not think I will be watching the next season of American Idol. This contest/show was supposed to be a search for the most talented and the best man did not win! The cheating ruined American Idol for me!

Congratulations AT&T, here you have your Arkansas idol Kris!! It is so unfair, compare to people in east coast with hour's phone lines busy and not to able to deal in. The end result is that the best singer ever could not win a singing competition.

Adam should have won. Kris has no style.

Jim Rice, Boston Red Sox, who was finally voted into the Hall of Fame... could have used this method of voting... he'd have been in years ago! Of course it would have made it as bogus as MLB All-Star Voting. Jennifer Hudson is the only Idol that has ever had any REAL talent and she didn't win! Wasn't there a 20 vote limit once upon a time? The GOP is considering text voting for 2012 and have hired AT&T to run the election.

Tiff's statement that, "Sure Adam and Adam fans are over the loss ..." is clearly false. Some of them will be ranting and raving about homophobia, the religious right, or this SUPPOSED fix for months/years to come - they just aren't happy unless their guy wins.

Whatever happened here with these AT&T lines:
a) Probably wasn't anywhere near decisive
b) Has apparently occurred in other places/seasons
c) Was probably more than compensated for by similar activity by some California hackers/phreakers
d) Certainly wasn't "cheating" by Kris

It doesn't matter. Allison will actually have the best career although Chris and Adam will do fine.

I say that Adam Lambert (the most sexy, good looking and far better singer) should have won. He's got it going on and he's not married, so who wouldn't want him to win. Kris Allen is a good singer, but not half as good as Adam. AT&T should be spanked and shanked for what they did.

I don't think this is about taking away Kris's crown and giving it to Adam. The two are I'm sure staying where they are. It's about he unethical practices of AT & T. If anyone else helped these people out in showing them how to vote it would have been different but not a corporate sponsor. Especially when that sponsor has full control over he voting.

OMG , the whole world was shocked when Adam was the runner up now it's becoming clearer.

American Idol" rules say votes made through "technical enhancements" could be thrown out, if detected. That's exactly what Arkansas and AT & T did !!! Something will have to be done about this one. Unbelievable.... Hey folks have you looked on I-tunes lately, Adam has thousands of awesome comments about his music, and Kris had like 23 ...(and they are mostly negative) .. go back to Arkansas Kris , you are nice and all ....... but the voice ....... ugggg

Enough!

Kris's fans weren't voting unfairly, they were voting passionately!

And while we're at it...was it unfair that Simon basically pushed Adam down everyone's throats each and every week? Was it unfair that Katy Perry wore Adam's name on her cape?

The contest is OVER...let's move on and let these guys do what they do best...MAKE MUSIC!

TextGATE? It's THAT big of a scandal that you're adding -gate to it? Wow. How lame, not to mention, unimaginative.

It is very disapointing to know that cheating did go on with the text votes and especially from Kris Allen's home state and all his fans there. CHEATERS never win – lets face it. Adam will come out way way way ahead (win or lose) he is the best on the show since Daugherty and look where he is. I am not saying that Kris isn't a good singer, but does anyone out there remember Taylor Hicks and a few of his songs?????? I think that Adam will be around for a long time and Kris will end up like Taylor. And again I say Arkansas & AT&T... I hope your proud of your winner and how he got there ....."Cheaters never win" and people won't forget how Kris won. I feel sorry for him.

May 27th, 2009 1:38 pm ET

I found this story quite interesting since I have AT&T myself. So not knowing anything about power texting I searched the internet. It appears fans for Adam Lambert were doing the same thing. See this link: http://adam-lambert.org/power-texting-with-att/

====================================

I followed this link....so both sides had the same plan...what can we cry about now?

My teens tried for hours to get in just ONE vote for Adam, and couldn't, then we read about this texting hacker software. Its disgusting. This whole American Idol/AT & T "fix" issue has left a bad taste in our mouths and we will find better shows to watch in the future.

What a bunch of CHEATERS in Arkansas and AT&T especially. I think there should be a recount which EXCLUDES the 38 million Arkansas votes. Or both guys should be given the title so Kris doesn't lose out and neither does ADAM. We all know Adam will have a great career, but ON PRINCIPLE, he deserves the title and all the perks that go with it.

And the midwest hillbillies call themselves CHRISTIANS??? Huh, how christian is this type of behavior. I'm disgusted and this will not away ... Adam's fans can promise you this much!

Let me give everybody a different perspective.
Those who are saying that Adam fans are not as phone saavy as Kris fans or anything like that are misguided. We can assume that the people at these Arkansas viewing parties most likely didn't have ready access to a landline phone, and if they did, would have a difficult time getting through to vote. I would also imagine that not everyone is an AT&T customer. This would also be true at Adam viewing parties. So if we take these people that can't get through or don't have AT&T and suddenly give them at least 10 votes....
So, hypothetically lets say that there are 1000 people at a viewing party each for Kris and Adam. 500 of them don't have AT&T and can't get through on a landline. Now the AT&T people show up in Arkansas and give the 500 people there the ability to vote with ease. Do the math, that's a MINIMUM of 5000 extra votes for Kris. But we can debate all we want. The voting fix is simple; one person gets one vote. Voting is by text message made available to all networks and phone numbers are logged. And if you don't have a cell phone, get with the program!

I CARE! Dont have people vote if it doesnt matter. I think its terrible and I hope the TRUTH, whatever that is comes out!

Chris gets to be American Idol and Adam Lambert gets to sing with Queen, should he accept their offer... it's up to him, now. Too bad we can't check for hanging/dimpled texts, then we could make a REALLY big deal about it. Take appropriate measures so it doesn't happen again and leave it alone. What's past is done.

It has been 8 seasons and you people still do not get it. This is a popularity contest, not who's the best singer. Although both were excellent singers, Adam has the best all round skills. It comes down to the votes. People in Ark. have nothing better to do than watch T.V. and talk on the phone. People in San Diego have lives and just TIVO the show, too late to call.
If we left the voting to the pros, Adam probably would have won. You can not have it both ways. If you want the right to vote you have to accept the results.

I'm 65 years old and I think that the voting system is the problem. A true winner would receive the total votes from one vote per person. I would like for someone to tell me how many one votes per person did each idol get for real. Maybe next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DSW

A couple of seasons ago, there was a voting contriversy and so I stopped watching American Idol. So one night after flipping channels, I cam across Adam singing and he was pretty good. So, I thought maybe I should start watching American Idol, give it another chance. Infact, I went to Amercica Idol website to cacth up on the performances. I just Adam would win, cause with all the different songs he had to sing, he, not once, messed up on any of them. Everybody I know, even my grandmother, knew Adam would win because of his vocal range. I thought this show was a competition for singers.....well I guess not. And so the results for this season has reminded me why I have stopped watching American Idol years ago.It's not just all about how much money or job offers the finale two will get , It's also about honesty and integrity of the show. I believe the show doesn't have either, so I will not be watching it again, nor buying anything with American Idol on it. I think At&T should get fined$$$ big time and they should start firing some people working for Amercan Idol, or better yet cancel the show.

I'm happy Adam didn't win. He sold me weeks ago. Kris regardless of votes will probably be Chris who? someday soon. I will be going to Adam concerts for years to come. By 2012 Adam will be triple platinum with records and Arkansas will be saying Kris who?

To allow texting has been unfair. I've never paid attention to texting before until I tried voting this season when I couldn't get through very often by phone. It was then that I realized you could only vote by text if you had AT&T which I do not. So, right there, that is unfair to only allow voting by text from certain people only. Also if you have unlimited texting on your phone, you can vote upwards of 2,000 times vs someone calling via a telephone. It should be limited to telephone voting only!
In terms of this new information that is being reported regarding AT&T's obvious discrimination of Adam is disgusting and they should compensate him in some way.

I called many, many times (mostly for Kris), and was able to get through 90% of the time! Also, just for the heck of it, I tried Adam's numbers, and was also able to get through!

The numbers had to be way apart for them not to say it was close. I guess the screaming teenie bopper fans had to go to bed!!!!!!

American Idol voting has always been flawed. There never has been an accurate voting system. Adam Lambert is a winner and will be extremely successful. Being named the American Idol does not always help you to succeed...a lot of times it's the ones that don't get the top spot that are awesome..Daughtery, Hudson, Aiken...and now Lambert!!! Lambert Rocks!!!

Who cares the best person GO KRIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I know is I sent many text votes for Adam that night. I never received a message saying Thank you for voting for Adam like I usually do. I do have a cell with AT&T. The next day I was at work around 10:30 am I finally received the message saying Thank you for voting for Adam. Talk about a delay?

A controversy resulting in a TV show getting an extra week or two of publicity.

Hasn't this happened before?

I–who never watched, voted, or cared–thought we were finally finished with the Kris vs. Adam story taking up news time a week ago. I should have known better.

But good could come from this: I hope it means LESS news time will be available for that "reality" couple with the house full of kids and the–surprise, surprise–controversy.

(I realize this sounds like it was written by Jack Cafferty. I'm not Jack. I'm just another old fart with common sense.)

Did AI plant this story? Because it seems like every story about their chosen one Adam is WHAT WILL THE ROCK GOD DO NEXT?!!!!! and every story about Kris is "he'll probably be lucky to sell platinum." Everything comes from their PR machine, especially that EW cover they got for Adam.

Personally, I'm an Adam fan who could care less who won the vote count. Adam will sell out stadiums and go to the top of the charts with his recordings. Kris will do fine.

That said, AT&T needs to fire those employees – or at least update company rules to cover this sort of behavior in the future. Employees of a show sponsor should not be involved in facilitating the voting process for one contestant over another.

Adam won because we let him

I vote for Simon

What a sham! Why even vote, if AT&T is going to pull stunts like this? Oh, yeah...so they can make lots of $$. This is not fair to Kris or Adam.

get me out of here

im not kidding adam got 50,000 votes but kriss got his multiplyed

It is not about who won. Both will do just fine with their careers. The issue is credibility of the program. If Idol doesn't get to the bottom this immediately, the program will lose all credibility with it's followers. If this happened as reported, Idol should sue AT&T for big bucks, declare co-winners, and explain why Ryan Seacrest (for the first time ever) didn't comment on the number of votes and the closeness of the vote for the final 2. It appears, by the way Ryan did the announcement, that Idol personnel knew something was rotten with the results. Again, if the reports are true, huge damage will deservedly be done to the reputation of the Idol program.

People who say "Who cares", the voters that buyed Go-phones and pay the phone-bills they care.It is there right to know the truth, if there was a scam.You can,t just sweep it under the rug,like AT&T and Idol are doing.

AT&T # 38136 kris cheated

again i say Adam Rocks the universe for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Amanda, Saw your link for texting, however you left out one little item....... Adam's Fans didn't get the FREE AT &T demo phones like Kris's fans did. Isn't that interesting , SO ADAMS FANS DID NOT HAVE THE ADVANTAGE THAT KRIS's fans did . AND I WOULD SIMPLY SAY , THAT IS CHEATING.

Adam will kick his butt on the charts anyway, get ready ! It will be great.

Kris seems like a nice person, but he didn't belong in the top two, should have been Allison or Danny with Adam.

American Idol? What's that?

I wouldn't doubt that this is true, but does it really matter? Adam may be better off in 2nd Place. Kris & Adam will both go on to better things.

Adam is apparently fine with the outcome, as is Kris. They're both winners; and they're both friends who seem to really support each other. This is an embarassment for AT&T, but both of these guys are getting great opportunities and will have great careers. Leave it alone.

AT and T already gave their statement. They admitted that "a few" of their local employees were invited to "watching parties" on behalf of Kris, and they provided some "demo models" and seminars of power texting "for those that were interested. This is what an AT and T rep said. So, a major corporate sponsor of a show that awards a 1 million dollar recording contract, clearly violated rules. It's not so much who won or lost, but there is now controversy, and not fair for those who paid for their votes. Idol is overwith, in my book. I know who will be the bigger star...having a musical background, all you people who can't recognize talent and hitting "high falsetto" notes which Adam does...he will be the most successful.

I demand a recount.

Kris Allen is a church boy and so is Danny (3rd Runner up). Danny's votes also went to Kris (I think because church people have nothing better to do than vote against anything "different"), and now we found out so did AT&T? I have AT&T and I am a Lamb, they have some explaining to do before I switch every AT&T service I have. In the very east it was distasteful from AT&T to take sides, being a sponsor of the show. Shame on you!

Now poor little Kris will be tied with the word " Cheating" everytime his name is mentioned.

I am an avid Adam fan. This news is disappointing for sure, but in the interest of the careers of both finalists, let's move on. With that being said, we should now cast a light on how voting is done, and make the necessary changes so that this does not occur in the future. After all, the winner of this contest is supposted to get there by the fans that support them.

Best inside commentary I've seen on this issue was Clay Aiken's blog. He was so right on in every way. And he should know having been through the experience. Manipulation is the name of the game.

Shows over, lets move on. Best to both of them.

Arkansas fans will never say Kris who

I started out the season cheering for Adam, Danny and Matt. Kris won me over slowly as he is very unassuming, but, in my opinion, sung very well, the nights I was able to watch the entire show. Adam lost me when he butchered "Ring of Fire". Some of the other songs later I wasn't too fond of either. I agree that Adam has an amazing talent and definitely has the star quality that will get him very far and successful in the industry, so he has no worries. I think that a lot of people just got tired of the "glam" Adam, and all the weird arrangements of classic songs and preferred Kris in the long run. Some of the arrangements that Adam did were definitely original but a little out there for most people. I even lost respect for Danny when he tried to upstage Chris at the end of their duet. If you're doing a duet with someone, you don't try and hog all the attention for yourself and that's what he did. He just constantly seemed to be trying to hard to get everyone's attention, while Adam had to do little to get attention, he naturally had everyone's attention with his amazing vocals and strange looks some nights. I loved when he did the normal look without all the makeup. Anyway, I don't think it was rigged. I know a lot of people all over the country who liked Adam, yet voted for Kris because they liked him just a bit better. As several others have said, Adam and Kris aren't up in arms about it and haven't asked their fans to fight any battles for them, so why is everyone? Adam knows he has a future, Kris was surprised he won and hopes he has a great future, but the future is the future and time will tell. Let's just let these two young talented men get on with their lives and be happy for both of them.

People cheated. Shocking!

I'm an Adam Lambert fan who never once voted for Adam. Why? Because I don't have AT&T, therefore I couldn't text my vote. In addition, every single time I tried to call in my vote, the lines were all busy. (I tried for two solid hours after one show, to no avail.) Regardless, I think Adam will do just fine. He doesn't need the Idol anvil around his neck; all that show does is stamp out identical bland little cookies

I CARE. I care because I spent hours trying to get votes through for Adam, believing that my vote made a difference. I devoted time, energy and cost (go phone which benefits ATT) because I believed it mattered. Too much information out there now tells a different story. i will not make the mistake of voting again. ATT has a lock on the text votes. Why cannot texting be done from ANY cell phone provider? I assume it is so ATT can make money off of Go Phones for those who do not have ATT. Not everyone can afford a Go phone. So they have only landline left and nobody could get through. And why was the phone line impossible to get hrough for over 3 hours, despite repeated redialing attempts. Why did some peole get "Thanks for voting for Kris" when they did get through , double check the number they dialed only to get the same "thanks for voting for Kris" when they did get through. It doesnt matter whether Kris or Adam won, although I am Adam all the way. The issue is integrity and AI and ATT have shown what this is really all about. And lets not forget there is the whole Disney thing. Do you think Disney with their squeaky clean immage was going to let Adam do an "i'm going to Disney world" commercial instead of sweet innocent Kris? Think about it. Better yet, don't . it might make you sick.

Do we really think people in California are so stupid they don't know how to power text? The population of the San Diego area is larger than the entire state of Arkansas. Adam's fans did not support him in large numbers – Kris' fans did! Get over it! Both will have great careers and not just because of some silly text voting trick. I wish them both well and look forward to watching both their careers.

I think people miss the points. Both are talented correct, but is the voting system fair? There were almost 100 million votes, and 38 million votes come from Arkansas with population of 2.8 million. Do the math...how the ARkansas votes could upset the result, even if Adam fans did the same thing with the speed dial, no other state has that outrageous scandal. I voted for Adam and love him always, he will people heart no matter what . I don't think he cares for the result. But that is not the point...., my point was that there was unfair voting system and people want to close their eyes and not acknowledge this. I think American Idol should revamp their voting system, to limit the voting number per phone number. One person one vote! If we are looking at the number of people who cast the votes for Adam, not the number of votes, I believe Adam would win. The voting system now do not represent America, but perhaps represent Arkansas :)

Both are good and in another contest Allen may have won fairly. There is no contesting the fact the Lambert is the better singer and the better entertainer. He should have won. The shows policy of keeping vote tallies secret leaves them vulnerable to suspicion of "fixing" the outcome. They have lost a great deal of credibility over this and need to seriously repair their voting system. Something clearly is in error.

The only good thing that will come out of this is that it just creates more buzz in Adam's favor. Honestly, you can't read anything on the internet that's not talking about Adam (will he sing with Queen, why didn't he win, etc). Let's face it, Adam should have won. Kris is no where near Adam's level of talent. He seems like a nice guy, but he has no charisma or personality. Too plain vanilla to ever be a star. Adam on the other hand has it all ... talent, looks, personality, charisma plus he's sweet and humble. Now there's star.

I feel sorry for Kris fans who have to live with the fact he won because some big company wanted him to win and not all of America. Adam fans, get out there and buy Adam's stuff. That will show the people who can help him what they want to know. That we love him and love his talent. Let's do it. Buy Itunes and go on Amazon.com and buy all his stuff. We now know Adam is the real American Idol. How sad for Kris. How rotten of AT & T and AI (and probably Disney, too).

I am an Adam Lambert fan, and I knew there was something rotten in Denmark when Ryan and Paula said on Larry King they never asked how many votes separated Adam and Kris. Now we know why. Every other year they made a huge point of doing it. They must have both known/

I also find it kind of amusing the good old hard working people of Arkansas, being church going individuals and all are not "shocked and sorry" that there was cheating involved in order for Kris to win. Also amusing that upstanding Kris apparently knows all about it and is willing to keep something that his fans and AT&T cheated in order for him to get it. If the roles were reversed Kris fans would be crying right now. Adam's fans boycott AT&T if you can get out of your contract do it. And I for one will never watch AI again. Its fixed!

Absolutely NOT!!! It was fair or correct that Adam Lambert lost in the first place. Nothing against Kris Allen, but lets be real. The Danny//Kris teeny boppers all united – nothing to do with talent but "Oh how cute". Angry but not surprised about underhanded calls via AT&T. I believe this should be investigated and brought into the light. And, if need be, the right person having the title.

This makes sense! Never in my whole life have I heard a vocal talent like Adam Lambert. He DESERVED to win! Even Kris Allen said Adam deserved to win! I knew something was foul!

Someone wrote 'who the hell cares'. A lot of people care, that what I say. The voting procedure is geared toward fraud. The producers of the show reserve the right to not count 'power texting'. Thats the problem. They have counted (and they know it) votes casted in FRAUD!!!!!!

I am quite sure Adam was robbed! I voted for him several times and always got my replies back..... but on the night of the final votes although I voted for Adam about 9 times I did not get those replies, in fact, I think I got some replies back the night the winner was announced which of course was too late so I know for certain somthing fishy was going on. Adam still rocks and he will always be my American Idol!!! no disrespect to Kris. By the way Adam you were great on Regis and Kelly this morning...what a gent!

It’s obvious that Adam won because he has 10 times more fans registered on his fan club site than the top 13 combined; and more iTunes sales.

I am an alltel customer and from Arkansas so I was not able to text my vote in but that did not stop me I voted until the close o the lines and I could not get throught to Kris's line until 11pm but when I finally got thru I did not stop until it was closed. So I didn't cheat but I did vote my a** off. We are from what you call hillbilly country so we had to make up for that. If Adam would have had the whole state of California behind him there may have been no way for Kris to win but I think there was more than Arkansas behind Kris he is kick awosome and I think alot of people think that or he wouldn't have the number 1 downloaded song on itunes right now. Adam is 3rd not first.

I think the vote was right I don't like Adam anway he scream too much when he sing

Wow, you up there, 'Lamb Sux', need to get your information straight before you call members of the rock band Queen gay, except for Freddie Mercury, who was one of the greatest vocalists of all time. You should apologize to Brian May & Roger Taylor. And you other people who are blasting those of us who are responding to this blog, saying we need to get lives and worry about more important news, why are you wasting your time reading this and taking the time to post? Hypocrites. The topic is whether or not the voting was rigged.

I think the voting was very fair. I personally voted for Kris 75 times by phone and 175 texts, and I am not from Arkansas. I liked Adam and he was very talanted but all he did in every song was SCREAM!! I work in a big facility and everyone agrees with the fact that he screams. That is why people voted for Kris. Adam also never played a insterment during any of the shows, and Kris played the paino and guitar. If they could rewind the shows you would see that Adam screamed and did not play any insturments. So America did vote for the BEST IDOL!! He won it fair and Square!! IT IS WHAT IT IS!!! So Adam fans need to accept the fact!!!!! Both of the idols will go far any way!! GOOD LUCK TO THEM BOTH!!!!

Well if you want to base who won on itunes sales, then Adam has won. He is outselling Kris already. As far as the voting goes, everyone knows who the real idol is. Adam will be a megastar.

No – we are not "too stupid" to power text, Nancee, we are too busy. Then again – here I am again. Bored and stupid. Time to go start changing the world again...bye.

The new American Idol Voting scandal has completley ruined the show for me. I will no longer be watching American Idol as long as they continue to ignore the fact that the voting/results were in fact tampered with. It was already unfair in my opinion that only AT&T subscribers could text in their votes but they went too far by handing out AT&T cell phones out to ONLY Kris fans. I could not get through to vote for Adam and I could not text my votes in because I am a T-Mobile Customer so I believe that the Kris Fans had a very unfair advantage especially since they were taught how to submitt 10 votes at a time (power text) just so they could vote extra for Kris which is against AI's voting rules! Therefore, it is wrong for AI to ignore the facts that are coming out. The show is supposed to be about finding talent and the best singer is supposed to win. The cheating has left a bad taste in my mouth and the best man did not win so I will not watch the next season since AI is doing absolutely nothing about it. AI should adopt the same voting procedures as Dancing With The Stars which is much more fair and accurate in my opinion. If AI wants to make things right they should hold a re-vote without text votes and maybe even use the same system as Dancing With The Stars.

Oh boy! The phone lines were messed up, too!

I dialed, on redial, for Adam on 03 for 2 hours, and during the last 20 minutes I alternately got a hot lady’s voice on a sex line, and the AI guy saying ‘thanks for voting!’

Since I hit redial, I know I did not dial incorrectly.

I also got 2 messages during the last 20 minutes that the number I dial was not in service – again from redial, so I know that it was the right number!

I sent an e-mail to Fox, via their website, and (as you can imagine) I did not receive a reply. Not good.

I feel sorry for Kris, he deserves the win but everyone is second guessing. Adam screeming every song got old REALLY fast. Kris' personality and main stream sound WON him the contest. I AM SURE there will be no recount and no revote so you have to live with it. AT&T and other A.I. viewers do not have to follow any rules. If someone was smart enough to figure out how to "stuff the ballot" then more power to them. A.I. may have to adjust some things next year, and just like computer virus' someone will find a way to crack the system no matter what you try. That is the nature of technology. If you don't like the voting process then don't watch it, that simple.

First time I ever voted was this year. I got through on the second try.
Kris is awesome!

There needs to be a better way to control voting. 100 milion votes but were there 100 million different people? No way.
But how do you control it?

Should we register to vote for American Idol like we do our President? It seems we are more concerned about these results than the leaders of our country.

After hours of trying to vote for Adam with busy signals I know now why
he lost. He'll skyrocket to fame anyway.

What would satisfy the public . . . .

As Bernardo said, going forward on all shows where fair competition is implied/expected – one vote per person.

AT&T gets fined big time by the Government. (Uncle Sam could use the money anyway.)

AT&T give an appropriate credit to all AT&T customers on their phone bills.

Give Adam $1 million towards his career also. His talent will take care of the rest.

Make this right.

This misconduct by AT&T is only the tip of the iceberg with regard to suspicious activity.

For instance, how many casual voters knew that multiple Go-Phones (cost, $20) with the unlimited texting feature (cost, $20) could be utilized to cast thousands (28,000-60,000) of votes during the 4-hour voting period:
(4 hrs. = 14,400 seconds. Batches of 10 votes sent every 5* seconds = 28,800 votes; batches of 20 = 57,600 votes.
*4 seconds actual, adjusted for a short break.)

If when activating a phone (cost another $40), a zip code of another time zone is entered into the phone, a voter could double their voting window and submit up to TWICE that amount of votes, or 115,200.

Even after extensive research and consulting with knowledgeable individuals, the true American Idol voting parameters remain a mystery to voters. The American Idol Voting FAQ's are extremely vague with regard to acceptable batch-texting and one-voter block limits, as well as VOIP service voting stipulations. If votes do not comply with AI's mysterious formula they may be completely negated without the knowledge of the voter. Conversely, it is unknown whether large blocks of noncompliant votes are eliminated as they should be.

In all earlier-round voting, a vote confirmation message was sent by AI to the voter within several minutes of sending. Many Adam voters, myself included, reported that text votes were not acknowledged until the following day. Were they counted?

AT&T systems failed under the huge surge of dial-in voting, resulting in busy signals for extended periods of time (hours). This was documented by many Adam fans on the “Idol” website, and I experienced this personally. Did the voters for Kris experience this same difficulty? One gloating e-mail message sent from a Kris fan to and Adam fan stated that Kris fans had simply tied up Adam's phone lines by calling and leaving the lines open. Granted the line would not remain open for a substantal amount of time, but as long as possible would be all that is required.

These issues are totally unacceptable. After all, even though this is "just" a reality show, there are major, life-altering consequences for the contestants.

To his credit, Adam Lambert very graciously conceded the title of American Idol to Kris Allen. I wish no harm to Kris Allen, and it is possible that Adam would not wish to change the current situation.

However, if it is revealed that actions by American Idol or AT&T, or any other entitty standing to profit substantially, have resulted in a reversal of the outcome, Adam should be credited accordingly. In any case, the objective is to prevent this scenario from repeating itself in the future.

I am a Senior Citizen, and this is only the 2nd year I have ever watched American Idol (my daughter is so proud that I am "with it," ), and the first time I ever voted. I became so mesmerized by Adam that I voted 20 times in the final. I have Verizon and I have not received the bill yet, but I thought each vote cost 99cents, and that was how AI made some of their money. I had a very hard time getting through to vote for Adam, and tried for about 3 hours managing the 20 votes. I was irritated that I could not text, which would have been much easier, because i do not have AT & T, Everyone should be able to text one vote at a time, and they should all be charged the same, regardless of their phone services. Yes, this has probably happened before, but this year it is so noticeable because Adam has that "star" quality, and he even got the attention of several like me who have never cared about this show before. Kris is a nice guy and an ok singer, but Adam clearly blew him off the stage, (ask anyone who knows music), and that's why this travesty is so noticeable this year. It should have never been allowed anyway. The real losers here are AT & T , American Idol, and Kris. Kris knows he's not the performer than Adam is, and now he has to worry about these reports of dishonesty. I have come to believe Adam is better off by not winning,but I will probably will never watch the show again, and if I do, I surely will not vote, because apparently a few legitimate phone votes for the same fee does not count.. Remember AT & T said these representatives had "a few" demo phones at these Arkansas parties. That means, folks, that while you were paying your fee for voting, some folks were voting multiple times for free.

a very similar thing happened in south african idols. the public were sms'ing their votes thru for their favourite and the sms's weren't going thru. the wrong idol won on the night. it came out that the cellphone network responsible for this chaos supposedly "lost" over a million or so votes with it being over 600 thousand votes for the actual idol who should have won. in the end simon fuller, the creator of idol's gave the go ahead for both contestants to share the title and both to get the same prizes. in the end the one who should have won didn't get to experience the full glory on the night of the winner being announced. that can never be replaced now can it?

After reading many of these posts, I noticed people who voted or tried voting for Adam, received a busy signal and had to keep trying for hours. Then there are the posts from Chris fans saying they didn't have any trouble getting through at all.

Logic would dictate that because of Adam's numbers being busy for hours on end and Chris fan's having no problems getting through, that Adam certainly should have blown Chris away.

Perhaps he did and this is all a stunt to improve ratings. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

And to those people who are saying "Who cares?", "Get a life!" blah blah, I really enjoy how you are taking the time to not only read these posts, but to also comment. Sure this isn't as important as some of the world events but it certainly is getting a response out of people. I haven't seen this many posts on CNN about a story for a long time. Kudo's to American Idol for doing it again. I think they will be back for another season.

I will state that I will not us AT&T products ever again, regardless.

I do believe Adam is very unique and extremely talented, I look forward to hearing more from him in the future. Chris you are great too, but I think your style caters more to the older crowd, country type folks or whatever. Certainly not mainstream pop like Adam.

I hope they are both enjoying the fame they are getting from this! I feel very sorry for Chris for being sucked into this. Even he said out of his own mouth, right after he won, that Adam deserved it. It takes talent to recognize true talent! Bravo to you both!

Should be just ONE vote per phone either text or call. Of course people would use different phones, but there wouldn't be the 'power texting' questions. Cheating on any level is wrong. Any of the contestants that make it to the top 10 and stand out will have an opportunity to make it big. Kris and Adam are both deserving in their own way! I believe that Adam is the born entertainer and has the talent to be a star without the win. Kris needed the win to get out there, and he will do well now too. Congrats and good luck to all of them!

Rigged or not... Adam could care less..... He is to good for American Idol...He knows now what a joke it is... and He will always be remembered... Adam is bigger than American Idol...ADAM is the WORLD IDOL !!! Kris who ???? You go Adam !!!

Wow. It's funny that some of you are just so sure that Kris will turn out to be another Hicks or Studdard. Look, he made you eat his words later on in the show. He'll make you eat them again. People who have to overcome unfair criticism and nastiness often rise above all of it. Kris fought his way to the top without the help of Adam's kind of publicity and pimping by the judges and the show. He got noticed on his own. I think he is going to surprise a lot of people when the time comes, especially his haters. And to Adam, I admire him so much for his humility and graciousness towards Kris. I wish that his fans would follow his lead.

As a major Adam fan, I will say that we need to let go and let Kris Allen be the American Idol, and this just gives Adam Lambert a little more freedom to be his edgy, creative self after the Idol tour.

I loved looking forward to what Adam would do on A I each week, but from video clips found on the internet of his Pre-Idol performances, I am REALLY looking forward to what he will do on his own, away from the tween crowd. He leaves me breathless...now THAT's entertainment!

Did Idol winner have unfair advantage? Absolutely NOT. America Spoke
America is 84% Christian Nation. Kris is a Christian young man with Outstanding Values. America spoke according to their own Christian values.
which we can only say TL because our young children does not need to follow "kiss" and those like him. (I will say Adam does have a beautiful voice but his choice of hard rock songs is what beat him.

American Idol should not have a telecommunications company sponsoring them...duh!

Anything having to do with FOX and AT&T is suspect.
I would have liked either of these great performers to win but come on politics and religion, LEAVE THESE KIDS ALONE!

I thought the votes were screwed up somehow when Adam Lambert didn't win. They are both good singers, buit Adam is by FAR better than Chris and has been the top one all season. People who never watch the show ever tuned in to watch him. One guy who never watched the show was at one of the partys where the AT &T were giving out phones. A friend gave him one of the phones and he started voting for Chris because his friend told him too. Those votes for one wouldn't have happened had AT&T not supplied those phones.
Also how in the hell can over 38 million votes come out of that state in what, 2 hrs.? Gee, maybe by being shown how to do 10 text votes with one click!!!! I think they need to change the vote system so this never happens again.

No doubt Chris feels bad and Adam must too...it would maybe put a strain on the friendship they have now, since neither one of them is at fault. Both seem like very nice ppl. and it's too bad AT &T screwed up so bad.

I voted for Adam but only my landline calls went through. I have service with Alltel and my calling the telephone # on my cell phone would not go through and rang busy the last night of voting. I was never able to get any votes thorugh for Adam through dialing from my alltel serviced phone. I had no trouble voting with it on DWTS. This sais, I believe Adam will has a great career as will Kris. It actually might be a benefit for Adam to not be tied to contracts were he the winner. I don't know that for sure. I believe this was a great A I year with super contestants. I hope the phone situation will be worked on in future years and I was very glad I had 3 landlines to vote from at my home!

Just a comment on AT&T: I received a call the other day from my son who said the company had switched to AT&T for their cell phone service. He said that we may get disconnected as his calls,business and otherwise keep getting dropped. Sure enough three times in what should have been a 5 minute call!! He finally called me back on his personal line(different company) All my friends who had AT&T have chenged to another service. Said "AT&T really stinks. Not only is their service really bad but apparently they have resorted to what is tantamount to "cheating." How nice !! There should be a major investigation into this–regardless of who would have legitimately won the key word is legitimate!! For all you "who cares" out there, you may be what is wrong with our values in this country. Are you reading this Arkansas–hate to think of what you're teaching your children.

why don't you people get a life.

His unfair advantage was that he was far more likable and sellable as a star than Adam.

Kris will be a distant memory in a few years. Adam will be a star. I won't be watching any more episodes of American Idol.

What's this? More vote rigging? George W Bush would have been proud.

In my opinon.. I think Adam should of been declared the winner. Kris himself knew that Adam should have won. Week after week Adam had us viewers wondering what is he going to sing this week, how is he going to look. What is going to be song his song choice this week. That's what a true artist is does to the viewers. Wanting the viewers and fans to come back for more. I will pay big bucks to see Adam perform.
As for AT&T.. No employee, NO representive, No One that has to do with AT&T should of been at the WATCH PARTY for Kris nor any of the finalist!
If there was a party for Adam at the same time then it would of been an all out war for the Title.. I did read online on how to power text to vote for Adam.. but the difference is NO AT&T REP post it nor had a watch party to cheat! Then again i have verizon. I dont feel it is fair that non AT&T customers cannot vote. NOT FAIR!
I feel bad for Kris since he had nothing to do it. Great Going Arkansas what a way to embrass your idol Kris .. you just made your state look really bad. I have been watching Idol since season 1 and thank you Adam for making my last season of watching idol a memorable one... Adam you are truly the winner in my book.. Good luck and cant wait to see ya in concert!

Kris it's not your fault that your state put you in this sad situation. I wish you the best of luck in your career.

Did anyone else notice how very unhappy Simon looked after the "results" were read? I agree with everyone else I know that Adam should have won. Maybe he did anyway, now that he is not on the hook to American Idol. This just means more money in Adams pocket even sooner!

I voted for Adam for 4 hours and only got through a dozen times the last half hour. It seems to me that AI viewers in metropolitan areas are at a disadvantage because all the lines are clogged up. It also seems to me that Adam voters are more concentrated in the cities.

How did a state with 2.5 million people cast 38 million votes? One text can cast 10 votes at once? That's BS!

I will never watch American Idol again. The American Idol franchise has been severely damaged by this outcome.

Oh...and one more thing...tween girls in my city "voted" heavily for Adam. Or at least they tried.

So you think Arkansas was smart in inviting AT & T to the party and California was stupid for not?

Do you know what conflict of interest is? It is Business 101. When you are a corporate sponser of a show like this, you can't favor any contestant or show up at their parties even if asked.

It is considered unethical.

Shame on Arkansas for not knowing this, and shame on AT & T for having stupid people working for them that not only showed up at the party, but showed people how to multi text when they knew it was against the rules.

Maybe California isn't the stupid ones after all..At least it seems they know basic business ettiquette...which is more than I can say for the hicks in the south.

And by the way..I am neither a Adam or Kris fan...

There is no such thing as a little cheating, that's like saying a little pregnant. How can we trust anything they say about the numbers, they always make such a secret of them. Yes it matters. And it is illegal, check that out with the FCC. And it particularly matters for Kris Allen. Why are his fans not screaming for blood and complete revelation of the facts? His whole life and any career he might have is already covered with a cloud. The outrageous manipulation of young people by at least AT&T is terrible.

In all fairness, I think this is one reason the votes should be limited to one per cell phone per night. As someone with a home town of 40,000 in the middle of nowhere, compared to a home town of say Hollywood. (Hollywood has many stars so who really cares about an American idol star coming home!). Now just for an example say the town rallied and got half of the population to vote, that's 20,000 votes, Now if half of them knew about the 10 text messages at once, that's 10,000 ppl * 10, if all of them voted say 10 times, (which is probably more like 20-50 times) that alone is 1,000,000 votes. (and that's the short end). Its very hard to believe American Idol, when they say the "cheat" did not make a difference in the outcome, as they would have a lot to lose and prove, and answer for, if there was proof that the votes were tainted. It does not matter who won or lost, what matters is the fairness of the competition.

On another note, for the person who said, "Adam could care less"...I think you meant Adam could NOT care less. If he could care less, that means he cares...lol. Not trying to critique you, but just a polite correction on the grammar.

The real story here is not this voting – one group of party goers can't sway the vote enough to change the outcome.

The real story is the extra revenue ATT is getting from the confirmation text sent from ATT to every phone that votes. This return text and its charge is not stated in the "normal text rates apply" disclaimer.

How much extra money is ATT getting from it's customers for this confirmation text?

1) AI should make a full disclosure of the vote tally so viewers can see what the winning percentage was 2). There should also be an independent investigation of how much influence the A T&T sponsor's meddling in the voting had on the final vote tally 3) . And, in the future it should be strictly 1 person 1 vote to restore the show's credibility.
Aside from that, Lampert is already on his way to a stardom that is well deserved . Nothing will hold him back. Kris's talent is a bit more ordinary, but, packaged well with the right songs who knows? The best to both of them.

At the end when it is just the two I have never been able to get through the lines. So I would say 'yes" it is unfair. But..in the long run..they will both have great careers. As long as it works out for both of them it really doesn't matter who won American Idol.

Man...I don't watch American Idol, but this is quite amusing watching a bunch of people getting all frazzled that effects their lives absolutely 0. If only America could put all this effort into something worthwhile.

Come on! Do the math! Let's say 40 demo phones (if they had that many) were able to cast 1000 power text votes each (probably a stretch); that comes to a whopping 2/5 of 1% of the vote! I doubt seriously that any demo phone voted 500 times. When will CNN provide an intelligent report on something that matters!

Common sense? when you have more votes than the population there is a problem! It's all a racket just like the Government and every money grabbing Company like ATT and the Show it's self for ratings. The problem is it wasn't about David ( Kris ) & Goliath ( Adam ) It was about the Money,Advertising and Ratings plain and simple a total SHAM!!!! It's absolulty Disgraceful. Every one knows Adam was the best Singer and entertainer, COME on PEOPLE when he was preforming you was on the edge of your Seats!!!!!

American Idol is a SINGER'S contest, not a popularity contest or political agenda concerning values. ADAM NO DOUBT HAD THE BEST VOICE, maybe ever on American Idol. He won, hands down. Anything done unfairly to take the title away from Adam,. i.e. AT&T admitting their employees' wrong doings helping add votes for Kris is damaging enough to take away his title. But you think Fox is going to even shake a finger at their biggest contributer AT&T? I won't be watching it next year. I'm not a sore loser, just a believer in fairness and that the best should win.

This is why they need to use caller ID or email addresses or something to take singular, unique votes instead of the mass texting ability they do now. If 1 person votes once and another votes 200 times ....that's already stilted and by no means proves one contestants popularity over the other. But then you throw in the mix that the person that voted 200 times could actually have voted 10 times each time they hit the button? 2,000 votes to the 1 guy that voted once? How many people were at those 2 Arkansas parties? 50 each? What if they each voted about 4,000 times (100 times an hour pressing once for 10 votes)....200,000 votes right there.

UNIQUE VOTES instead of HOW MANY RECORD BREAKING VOTES CAN WE GET THIS WEEK?

Everyone knew Adam was the very best ever on the show. A great singer and entertainer. No comparison between Kris and Adam. I think it was fixed.

I think it's time that American Idol get a new sponsor-and ....a more accurate voting system! Looks like they are following in the same foot steps as our government did several years ago when alot of Presidential votes had to be recounted, and recounted, and recounted....Sad thing about all of this is that now Kris will always wonder if he really did win Idol based on his singing ability and fan base, or if alot of his fans simply "cheated" in order to get him into the No. #1 spot. In my opinion, Adam was definitely the more experienced and versatile candidate , but he and Kris are both winners. Good luck to them!

this would be easy enough to check out if it was fixed

Advantage for Kris???? How about Katy Perry coming on stage with Adam's name on a cape. The show was so one sided for Adam it makes me sick. Danny was by far the best singer on the show.

First I need to say that I have not watched this season of American Idol and have never voted in any Idol season. So I can't say who I think was better in the competition.
With that being said, how many people live in Arkansas? How many people live in California?

Googleing "power texting" will get hits from as far back as April, with detailed instructions as to how to do it. In fact, the example I found was from a supporter of Adam, not Kris!

This was not a "finals" phenomenon.

Its very simple : Why they dont release the exact votes ?? What was the margin...?? Obvoiusly something is wrong, and the AI Producers- dont want us to know......
People is upset for a reason, but it will pass in 7 months until AI 9...But certainly the producers of AI are losing more audience each year....due to this situations...( see Taylor Hicks...etc)

I stopped watching AI right after Clay lost to Ruben! Phone lines jam, more than one vote per person. I refuse to watch anymore and haven't!

Kris is the winner, and with a total of over 100 million votes casted that night for he and Adam , he won!! Even if AT&T hadn't showed some of the Arkies how to power text, they would have voted all 4 hours anyways. Adam's fans clearly thought he had it in the bag, and didn't put in the extra efforts. The homecoming show CLEARLY showed kris as the favorite. I live in San Diego, and the hype just wasn't as huge as it was for Kris. Adam's talent belongs on a Broadway stage or singing for some "eccentric" over the top, rock band. Kris is on his way to follow in the steps of someone like Justin Timberlake, or Michael Buble. I could listen to him all night! Adam will be popular for awhile, but most likely would be better off being the Phantom of the Opera. His screaming will be short lived!!!

Mike Tyson's daughter could have been an "Idol"! Stupid treadmill!

Cort Armstrong Kris sell more than Adam? Oh really since when. Seems America thought Taylor Hicks would sell and that never happened.

Kris fan stop belly aching. If the shoe was reversed and the voting improprieties were done for Adam you would be wanting knowledge as well.

It is time the shenanigans with voting are ceased. Only then would we know who was truly the most popular.

AI should release the voting results. why didn't they this year? Last year Cook won by 12 million votes. They announced it. Why not say the margin this year?

One vote per phone. That would resolves all these issues.

You would think that AT&T could post how many unique phone numbers voted for Kris and how many voted for Adam. This would be one vote per number and we would see who the winner is.

Stop it! Have you heard both of them speaking about each other? That's more important than this stuff about votes. Both of them are happy, both of then respect each other; there are many things that unit them...Why don't you do a blog about this beautiful attitude from these two Idols? Maybe because this is not a negative stuff, and negative stuff sell more than positive ones...Stop it!! Millions of people are living in a better world. Adam and Kris are living in that world. Are you?

Adam Lambert will undoubtedly become a bigger star....it all makes sense now....for the life of me I couldn't understand how Kris Allen won....but with AT&T and the State of Arkansas helping him cheat his way to the title....it all makes perfect sense....and I thank my lucky star I subscribe to Verizon for all my cellphone needs....

The only thing that rigged is a marketing ploy by AT&T.

Whoever planned this is a genius. For the price of a plane ticket to Arkansas and a few demo phones, they're getting a ton of "free" press time.

As Simon would say, "Brilliant!"

It's been a rigged and flawed voting system since year one, but Fox and Amer Idol always got away with it even though eyebrows were raised quite high in certain past years. However, they never anticipated a talent like Adam Lambert to grace their stage, a talent like never before. He WAS the show every single week, including the Finale. The difference in talent between him and all the others, including Kris, was Black and White. Adam was in a class of one. Certainly, Adam is already launched and his star is already shining. But Fox and Idol have some serious explaining to do and should begin by disclosing all vote counts. Shame on them. This year they finally got caught.

it does matter--the obvious talent lost.......only those with music
talent might realize this.it's kinda sad.

Honestly I would NOT be surprised if they did do something like this. I went through Conway and the entire town was Allen crazy. However if they did do this, I would not think it had any impact.

Unfair advantage??? How about Adam being on the cover of EW before the finale? Not the top 13, not the top 10, heck not even the top 3, but only him with an article only about him. How about Simon predicting Adam and Danny would be in the finals for weeks? How about Paula saying on the show that Adam and Danny would be in the finals? How about Kris' audition not even being shown during the auditions days and hardly any clips of him during Hollywood week? Enough with the conspiracy theories. Kris won. Move on and good luck to all of them in their careers.

I do care a lot about what happened with the results on AI!!!! I'm a mom and I always voted for Adam hundreds of times (for the finale I think I voted about 500 times or more). He is an amazing talent, the best singer that has ever been on AI ever, ever!!! He will sell more records than anybody, he is the real American Idol!! Shame on those who think they did Kris a favor! He is a nice kid, but hello!!!! Adam is far better! I can;t wait for Adam's album to come out!! Congratulation, Adam, for becoming the Worldwide Idol!!! Now, I don't think I will ever vote for any other contestant on AI, this voting crap thing is a total joke! Adam, you are the best!

Kris has a nice voice but there are millions who have a nice voice and can sing. He does not have that something extra that all of the great entertainers have. Adam does. He has the talent to become (as Simon said) a world wide entertainer. Even though Adam did not win, he will make it as big as Elvin, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc., etc. Kris will fizzle out within the next year. I am 62 years old and English.

Why should it cost the average citizen anything to vote in a talent show? You pay for texting, many people bought additional GO phones to send multiple texts......it's not a singing contest, it's become a contest a to see whose fan base can outtext and out power-dial the other guy. If they wanted the show to be democratic at all, votes would be limited, as they are on Dancing with the Stars. However, as AI benefits from the AT&T text revenue, that is highly unlikely to happen. The show has become a farce as technology has outrun it, and I won't be tuning in next year.

I am from Arkansas and I barely tune into American Idol much less waste my time voting for anyone on there. I watched the finale mainly because I was flipping channels but I don't generally watch much television. But, I have to say that after reading these comments you would think that this would affect the world. This is so small it will be forgotten within a couple months. It will not be anything that matters one way or the other to the health and welfare in any of your lives unless of course you go nuts from all this blogging and arguing about strangers who would not likely look your way unless they needed you for something. If I were you all I would deal with what happened and save my blogging fingers for something more important. It is fascinating to me that you all are arguing and accusing and angry about something that does not affect you personally. This should tell you something. That there are a lot of people with serious psychological issues to get so upset over something so small. Get help. Oh yes, in case I did not say I did not care who won. These fellows are cool. They are musicians not your lovers or your friends. They are strangers and they will likely never cross paths with any of you unless you pay them to. Think about it. You are using your brains to think up arguments over American Idol contestants. Oh I have ATT home and cells but I never heard of anyone texting to vote too many times for the Kris guy. I am a college student and I think people in Arkansas were not that invested in things such as American Idol. We work, take our kids to ball games, and church socials and we don't have that much time for such nonsense here and try to go to school to get our college degree to pursue the American dream of owning a home and sending our kids to good schools. Maybe we are just too happy and settled. I don't know but from what I have read on here I have not missed much.

From the way I see it, one man won, but no one lost in the end. As far as Arkansas goes, everyone in Arkansas is related, so it goes to show what one BIG family can do when they vote together. Adam will do great with Queen as their new front man. Lets see who remembers Chris in a few years....

i didnt even know jim rice could sing?????

I agree, Delta. BUT: of COURSE the voting was rigged! That's the only way Mr. Bland/Forgettable could have won. (I can't recall a single song he did). I saw somwhere that 3 million votes came from Conway, AR, where only 20,000 people reside. Amazing huh?

DANNY should have won ..............................

There is no point in voting until AI imposes a 1 vote per phone line rule. Until then 13 year old girls with nothing better to do will continue selecting our Idol based on who is "cuter". Anybody who thinks Chris Allen is more talented than Adam Lambert is either crazy or didn't watch this season. That's not saying Chris isn't talented but there's nothing really unique or special about him.

I am tired of the politics of American Idol. I was hoping for this season to be honest and true, just to see that (AGAIN) quite a few good singers had to go because of the politics and ratings. Look at Lil Rounds, she obviously was voted through because of the ratings and definitely not because of her singing ability. Adam has been on top of his game every week while all others had bad performances. There has to be a way for this show to be more geared to the general public in lieu of the teenyboppers who would vote because a contestant is so cute (grow up people!). In my opinion this show has jumped the shark and will see a big decrease in followers next season. Obviously Adam was the better performer, just look at all the top artists who endorsed him (Brian May, Meatloaf, Kiss, Slash, etc), nobody even mentioned Kris Allen. I am not saying that Kris can’t sing, but Adam is just in a much higher league. If all this was not enough they had to pull this (in my opinion) voting scam. I would like to know how much AT&T money is involved in American Idol.

I can keep on going about this subject, but I’m sure it will not make a difference. American Idol should take direction from “so You Think You Can Dance” which is much more geared to real performance in lieu of playing games.

Just wanted to say; Adam, you are a great performer, and don’t let them beat you down. I can’t wait to hear more from you.

-and get rid of Paula already.

Never in a million years will I believe that Kris "beat" Adam. I knew something was up.

who was asked to tour with a very successful band, Queen? Adam.
Adam will emerge as the true artist and as Paula says not just an idol but an "Icon".

I think all those who played the prank at AT&T should be fired. It is very unfair to win a title that was rigged. Secondly, I tried to vote for Adam and could not get through. Sorry, we watch the Idol show and we think that Adam should be the Star, Kris is just NO comparison.
In the future this show will suffer because we will all know that AT&T had it rigged. The damage is done and I will pull out of AT&T as a customer so will my family. Dishonesty pays a price. I wish Adam the best and I know he will shine as a Star. Nothing against Kris, but his winning is a joke.

I have a strong feeling Kris will end up doing something like "Christian Rock" and Adam will be creating an entirely new genre of music that will take the world by storm.

That being said, FOX/IDOL needs to post the votes, they need a 1 vote per person rule, they need better business partners, they need to stop messing with the viewers and they need to start having the winners of American Idol get actual careers. (There were two exceptions, and I think one ended up being Country.)

Adam should be thanking his lucky stars that he didn't win. I wouldn't want the CURSE OF THE IDOL to ruin his career when he obviously is the most talented person to ever grace the stage of American Idol.

The bottom line is this:

A major corporate sponsor helped break the rules by hosting the "power texting" parties.

The only reason for the show to not post the final numbers is because we would then see the actual difference being somewhat close to the Arkansas votes.

I just read this:

AT&T: Overeager employees helped 'American Idol' fans text (Baltimore Sun)A few overeager AT&T employees brought demo phones to "American Idol" viewing parties in Arkansas and helped fans text their votes, but their actions did not affect the outcome between native son Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, the company said Wednesday.

Obviously it affected the outcome by first, AT&T breaking the rules being a major sponsor to the show and obviously it has a lot of people up in arms over the whole ordeal!

I would like to see what action is taken to correct this, if any.

The AT&T providing free phones, texting and training for Kris' voters is only tip of the iceberg.
All of us who voted for Adam via landlines, couldn't get any votes through for the first 3 hrs, while Kris' lines weren't busy. I've heard from some sources that AT&T installed additional circuits for Kris' lines while Adam's lines were intentionally blocked so noone could get through.
I text voted on two cell phones for 4hrs – I have never received AI confirmation message that my votes were counted. I've heard the same stories from other people who voted for Adam. It looks like millions of our votes weren't counted.

AT&T admits to breaking the law, and think we should just ignore it.
Facts are facts and they only discus a small segment of the facts. They know they gave out many corporate phones – illegal influence for a contest of which they sponsor. It does not matter who they gave the phones to or how enthusiastic employees were. AT&T blocked texts from tens of thousands of voters. People who bought GO phones were not able to get text votes through.

If it smells rotten, chances are that something is rotting.

I voted by text message via T-mobile for Adam. When I got my text confirmation/vote results the response said that Adam had recieved 62% of the vote. I don't understand how one carrier can show such a significant difference in votes vs. another like ATT. I'm very suspicious about this startling information.

Was I disappointed when Adam didn't win? Of course. However, he will have a brillant future ahead of him. If not have even better opportunities then Kris. They are both talented people, but Adam had more of the wow factor and Kris had all the teenie boppers. Discard all of the text votes and just count the phone votes that were received. Then the true winner will be revealed! Problem solved!

What's up with all the people making comments like- who cares, get over it and or get a life!!! isn't freedom of speech important anymore? it sounds like all you people who say these comments are the ones who need to get a life!!!!!!!! Like i said before Adam Rocks and was the best by far. Kris was good, but not as good as Adam and like some said in a few months people will be saying Chris who?

I don't care what kind of spin the P.R. people at AT&T and Idol put on this. This was fraud and federal (and state laws also) laws were broken. AT&T in particular has to be held accountable to both the fans and voters. In some cases people were charged for their calls/texts. In other cases they weren't. If the cash prize for winning is really $1 million dollars and Adam would have won were it not for AT&T and their free phones and instructions, then they have cheated him out of that money. Yes, he'll have a stellar career, record contract, etc. We know that already. There is much more involved here than opportunities. It doesn't matter if there were a "few" overly enthusiastic employees and a few phones (both of which figures I suspect have been minimalized to avoid responsibility), these people work for AT&T and AT&T is ultimately responsible for their actions. And Idol . . . if you want to maintain your status and credibility, you had better distance yourself from AT&T and come clean with the viewers instead of protecting them, even though they were a sponsor. That kind of sponsor can only bring you grief.