Suburban Web site says 'Idol' is 'giant karaoke contest'
March 26, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
A scrappy little Web site run from suburban Chicago is giving "American Idol" and fans fits. It's the second most popular "Idol"-related site -- right behind "Idol's" official site. And it's inspiring death threats and promises of lawsuits against its owner.
The David and Goliath goal of VoteForTheWorst.com is to convince people to vote for the worst singer every week.
It's getting noticed. Last week, site owner Dave Della Terza, 24, chatted on Howard Stern's show. The site served as fodder for morning TV chatter. On "Letterman," Paula Abdul called the site "just terrible."
Support from Stern fans and "Idol" bashers appears to be helping contestant Sanjaya Malakar, the 17-year-old Washington state kid with the flowy hair and thin voice. Before last Tuesday's show, the site pleaded, "If we can move him ONE more week into the top 10, he'll go on tour."
Sanjaya then proceeded to get enough votes to make it to the final 10.
The answers to your first questions are (a) Della Terza's job is teaching TV-related courses at College of DuPage; (b) no, he has never auditioned for "Idol," though he did try to work in Hollywood once, and (c) yes, many "Idol" fans hate him.
After Sanjaya got another VFTW-related reprieve last week, Della Terza received 1,000 e-mails the next day. Many were nasty -- enough that he prefers not to be too specific about where he lives.
"I get so many creepy e-mails from people," he says. "They're like, 'I'm gonna hunt you down and kill you.'
"People take this show so seriously. It's just a cheesy entertainment-reality show."
VoteForTheWorst is serious to a point, Della Terza says. "But we don't care that much. If Sanjaya is to go home next week, oh, well. We'll move on to someone else," he says.
"I hope he doesn't, because that's hilarious. His performance on Tuesday night was the funniest performance ever [thanks to] the crying girl [fan] and [Sanjaya's] jumping around onstage."
Also last Tuesday, contestant Chris Sligh -- the curly-haired guy wearing glasses -- said, "Hi, Dave" onstage. Previous to this, VFTW suggested it was bored with Sligh but would back him if he said "Hi, Dave" on the air, Della Terza boasts.
"So now, I love Chris Sligh. He had the balls of steel to say something 'American Idol' hates," Della Terza says.
VFTW may already have helped produce an "Idol." Last year, the site backed Taylor Hicks. He won. Afterward, fans of both the singer and the site went to a Hicks concert with a VFTW T-shirt. The "Idol" victor merrily posed with the shirt for a photo.
That picture is the first thing you see at VoteForTheWorst.com.
"I'm glad Taylor understands it was a joke," Della Terza says. "The thing I like about him and some of the contestants is they get the show is cheesy and corny."
Della Terza, who went to Northern Illinois University, swears his mission isn't to destroy "Idol."
"We do want to expose the show," he says. "It's definitely a very manipulated TV show, and people don't get that."
This season, he thinks, producers wanted, say, Melinda Doolittle to do well so she could sell lots of records, but they wanted Sanjaya for good TV. He's thrilled "Idol" has to take Sanjaya on its concert tour.
"Now people have to listen to Sanjaya," Della Terza says. "You're paying to see a giant karaoke contest."
The downside to VFTW is the loads of "idiotic" e-mails Della Terza receives.
"It's the same letter over and over basically," he says. "The only ones I write back to are the ones that are really stupid. And I write back, like, 'Your mom.' "
Fans of specific contestants blame VFTW when someone like Sanjaya stays put and someone more talented gets booted.
"We're like, 'No. You made Stephanie Edwards go home, because you didn't vote for her' " enough, he says. "You can't blame us for voting for one person."
All kinds of people threaten to sue him.
"It always makes me laugh when you think it's an e-mail from a teenager, and then at the bottom it says their law firm name," he says. "If these lawsuits materialized, we'd have 50 to 100 lawsuits a week."
He mocks these e-mails: " 'Yeah I'm suing you, because Sanjaya is bad.' OK, let's see how this court case goes. I'll represent myself," he says.
Della Terza claims Fox once issued a cease-and-desist order demanding he take copyrighted "Idol" material off his site, a move Fox confirms.
"Millions of fans of 'American Idol' vote for their favorites each season," the network proclaims in a statement, "and that success speaks far louder than the specious ramblings of any mean-spirited and insignificant Web site."
Della Tersa is undeterred. "They're as dumb as the 12-year-olds that write to us," he says.
"All we're doing is getting people to watch their show. ... You're idiots. We're [earning] you money for the sponsors!"
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
A scrappy little Web site run from suburban Chicago is giving "American Idol" and fans fits. It's the second most popular "Idol"-related site -- right behind "Idol's" official site. And it's inspiring death threats and promises of lawsuits against its owner.
The David and Goliath goal of VoteForTheWorst.com is to convince people to vote for the worst singer every week.
It's getting noticed. Last week, site owner Dave Della Terza, 24, chatted on Howard Stern's show. The site served as fodder for morning TV chatter. On "Letterman," Paula Abdul called the site "just terrible."
Support from Stern fans and "Idol" bashers appears to be helping contestant Sanjaya Malakar, the 17-year-old Washington state kid with the flowy hair and thin voice. Before last Tuesday's show, the site pleaded, "If we can move him ONE more week into the top 10, he'll go on tour."
Sanjaya then proceeded to get enough votes to make it to the final 10.
The answers to your first questions are (a) Della Terza's job is teaching TV-related courses at College of DuPage; (b) no, he has never auditioned for "Idol," though he did try to work in Hollywood once, and (c) yes, many "Idol" fans hate him.
After Sanjaya got another VFTW-related reprieve last week, Della Terza received 1,000 e-mails the next day. Many were nasty -- enough that he prefers not to be too specific about where he lives.
"I get so many creepy e-mails from people," he says. "They're like, 'I'm gonna hunt you down and kill you.'
"People take this show so seriously. It's just a cheesy entertainment-reality show."
VoteForTheWorst is serious to a point, Della Terza says. "But we don't care that much. If Sanjaya is to go home next week, oh, well. We'll move on to someone else," he says.
"I hope he doesn't, because that's hilarious. His performance on Tuesday night was the funniest performance ever [thanks to] the crying girl [fan] and [Sanjaya's] jumping around onstage."
Also last Tuesday, contestant Chris Sligh -- the curly-haired guy wearing glasses -- said, "Hi, Dave" onstage. Previous to this, VFTW suggested it was bored with Sligh but would back him if he said "Hi, Dave" on the air, Della Terza boasts.
"So now, I love Chris Sligh. He had the balls of steel to say something 'American Idol' hates," Della Terza says.
VFTW may already have helped produce an "Idol." Last year, the site backed Taylor Hicks. He won. Afterward, fans of both the singer and the site went to a Hicks concert with a VFTW T-shirt. The "Idol" victor merrily posed with the shirt for a photo.
That picture is the first thing you see at VoteForTheWorst.com.
"I'm glad Taylor understands it was a joke," Della Terza says. "The thing I like about him and some of the contestants is they get the show is cheesy and corny."
Della Terza, who went to Northern Illinois University, swears his mission isn't to destroy "Idol."
"We do want to expose the show," he says. "It's definitely a very manipulated TV show, and people don't get that."
This season, he thinks, producers wanted, say, Melinda Doolittle to do well so she could sell lots of records, but they wanted Sanjaya for good TV. He's thrilled "Idol" has to take Sanjaya on its concert tour.
"Now people have to listen to Sanjaya," Della Terza says. "You're paying to see a giant karaoke contest."
The downside to VFTW is the loads of "idiotic" e-mails Della Terza receives.
"It's the same letter over and over basically," he says. "The only ones I write back to are the ones that are really stupid. And I write back, like, 'Your mom.' "
Fans of specific contestants blame VFTW when someone like Sanjaya stays put and someone more talented gets booted.
"We're like, 'No. You made Stephanie Edwards go home, because you didn't vote for her' " enough, he says. "You can't blame us for voting for one person."
All kinds of people threaten to sue him.
"It always makes me laugh when you think it's an e-mail from a teenager, and then at the bottom it says their law firm name," he says. "If these lawsuits materialized, we'd have 50 to 100 lawsuits a week."
He mocks these e-mails: " 'Yeah I'm suing you, because Sanjaya is bad.' OK, let's see how this court case goes. I'll represent myself," he says.
Della Terza claims Fox once issued a cease-and-desist order demanding he take copyrighted "Idol" material off his site, a move Fox confirms.
"Millions of fans of 'American Idol' vote for their favorites each season," the network proclaims in a statement, "and that success speaks far louder than the specious ramblings of any mean-spirited and insignificant Web site."
Della Tersa is undeterred. "They're as dumb as the 12-year-olds that write to us," he says.
"All we're doing is getting people to watch their show. ... You're idiots. We're [earning] you money for the sponsors!"
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