Internet Video Contest Gives American Idol Hopeful an Edge
Can an Asian-American ever hold the American Idol title? Paul Ethan Hahn says a resounding “yes” and Internet video might be his Ace in the Hole.
Paul grew up in Murray Hill, New Jersey and has always been a big country fan. He also loves the hit FOX-TV program American Idol. And if Paul has his way, he’ll be the first Asian country singer on American Idol.
“I wanna make Paula Abdul cry and show that jerk off Simon how to sing. I want to be the next American Idol!” Paul quips.
This week, Paul Hahn entered an online FOX 29 Philly Idol contest and hopes that a hi-tech edge will help him bypass the massive lines outside the first round of judges.
FOX 29 posted an open American Idol audition on their website. The winner gets to perform live on Fox’s morning show, Good Day Philadelphia, and gets to bypass the first round of judges at the open American Idol Philadelphia auditions later this month. To enter, all you had to do was upload a video of you singing.
Paul recorded his American Idol demo using his Apple MacBook Pro laptop, with a built in iSight camera, and the video editing program iMovie.
“It was so easy,” says Paul. “I just opened iMovie, recorded about a minute sample of my singing, burned a DVD and threw it into the mail. The whole process only took about 10 minutes.”
Since Idol’s first season, we’ve seen Kelly Clarkson belt out high notes, a plethora of Sanjaya hairstyles, and even a contestant who went on to win an Oscar. But we haven’t seen any serious Asian-American contestants get a real shot at the Idol crown (sorry but William Hung doesn’t count).
Will Paul’s dream of telling off Simon and getting to sing a country song on American Idol come true? Can Internet video voting give this American Idol hopeful a back door to stardom? That’s in the hands of you, the voters.
You can watch and vote for all the top 10 Philadelphia contestants, including Paul Hahn, on FOX 29’s web site: http://media.myfoxphilly.com/idol/. The top 5 get to perform live on FOX 29’s morning show Good Day Philadelphia and the winner gets to bypass the massive lines at the Philadelphia open auditions for season 7.
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Entries (RSS)
August 15th, 2007 09:16
What an incredibly stupid story. This is what is known as “soft bigotry.” The show is a talent show, not a charity program based on ethnic race. Why was this even posted here? Are you amazed that an Asian can use a computer? Are you amazed that an Asian sings country music? What did he do that isn’t done every day by lots of people who put video on YouTube and other similar web sites? Answer: nothing.
August 15th, 2007 19:38
being asian myself, let me tell you, as far as role models we dont have much. sure we have bruce lee, lots of scientists, ang lee and lucy liu. but i was so mad at william hung on american idol. jerk. i hope paul hahn does well.
August 15th, 2007 19:51
hey paul, my friend and i went to an AI audition. It was pointless, they didn’t let hardly anybody get through not even me. stage 1 = everyone auditions, then stage 2 and 3 are a couple of weeks later. At least for her, she waited 6 hours, I waited 8 to sing the Pearl Jam version of American Pie. then some junior producer barely listens to you and waves you off based on your appearance. you did the right thing by entering the internet contest.
August 15th, 2007 22:25
hey Fred Thompson - piss off!! if you’re not asain shut the f up. you are a bigot. i hate super righteous white people on their “oh im not racist soapbox.” you suck. i hate you. have fun at your Klan meetings. jerk.
August 16th, 2007 12:02
Thanks for your support guys… It means the world to me to have you guys watch my back! Thank you.
August 16th, 2007 20:19
Fred Thompson i hate KKK members like you!!!! racism is a plague and people like you need to die.
good luck paul!!! i voted for Sanjaya.
August 17th, 2007 05:59
@michael and Lewis,
You are 100% wrong. My comment has nothing to do with Paul and everything to do with the condescending nature of the ARTICLE. The full term is, “the soft bigotry of low expectations”, exactly what this article did. If Paul succeeds, it should be because of his MERIT as an EQUAL competitor. The article mocks Paul. That should be overwhelmingly apparent to you.
Additionally, Michael - Your comment is ludicrous. Apply that line of thought to anything else. If somebody is male, they can’t comment on anything having to do with childbirth. If a person is alive, they can’t comment on death. If someone isn’t a drug addict, they can’t comment on drugs. Both of you should be ashamed for not thinking about what was posted and spouting such hateful ignorance.
August 17th, 2007 22:17
fred thompson you are racist against us. just admit it. i hate closet racists like you. people like you wouldnt even hang out with me in high school bec you are a racist.
as far as the article mocking paul, you are just wrong. it doesnt mock paul. in fact, if you read all the comments you will see a comment FROM PAUL you STUPID RACIST!!!!
August 17th, 2007 22:51
fred,
how does the article “mock” paul? he wants to be the first asian country singer on American Idol. that’s his dream.
are you saying it’s wrong to want to be the first person to achieve something of your race, religion or sex? first black US president? first woman on the moon? first asian American Idol?
by the way, you arent using the phrase “the soft bigotry of low expectations” properly. paul ethan hahn is NOT asking people give him extraordinary consideration just bec he is asian. being asain does NOT make him less capable than the norm and unable to perform without special assistance. paul does NOT want people to just vote for him because he’s asain.
paul gave MethodShop.com several quotes for the article and approved it before it was posted. paul hahn is a nice guy. he loves country music. he’s asian. he wants to be the first asian American Idol. let him have his dreams.
i voted for him.
August 18th, 2007 15:34
@methodstop,
I said MERIT is what is important, not RACE.
The first line of the article is, “Can an Asian-American ever hold the American Idol title?” That line is a direct insult to Paul and is overwhelmingly racist. What if it said “black” instead of “Asian”? What if is said “woman” instead of “Asian”?
Last night a woman won this year’s “So You Think You Can Dance” competition. The first 2 years the winners were men. Would the question, “Can a woman ever hold the So You Think You Can Dance title?” be sexist? Yes, it would. Did they ever intimate the Asian girl could not compete in ballroom dance? No. Why? Because her RACE was irrelevant. MERIT in the form of SKILL was the basis of the competition.
Look at David Zao’s post. What difference does someone’s race make WRT them being a role model? Imagine how self-defeating it would be to limit your role models to only people of your own race. David lists males and females as possible role models. How can Lucy be a role model to a man? If “we” have Lucy as a role model, that means David considers women possible inspirations. If a woman can be a role model, why not someone who has different racial characteristics?
The phrase, “the soft bigotry of low expectation” was used properly. It refers to the concept and practice of lowering expectations or giving an artificial starting point to someone because they are a “minority”, most often non-Caucasian. I used it properly, in relation to the tone of the article. I never stated that Paul is asking for special status because he is Asian.
The article becomes a soft-sell attempt to generate interest and activity for Paul. That most certainly is “soft bigotry” by virtue of attempting to give him a different starting position because he is Asian and sings country music. It is portraying him at a disadvantage because he is Asian. THAT is mocking him.
Here’s a name Paul probably knows: Charley Pride. Was it skill or race?
August 19th, 2007 02:15
shut up white boy.
fred you are not asian. f*** off. you will never understand.
i support paul.
you are a closet racist. go get some therapy.
August 19th, 2007 12:14
As long as you look at the world and yourself with that type of hatread/jealousy/fear/self-deprecation/cowardice you will always be a victim of your own creation and limit your life’s potential.
Another aspect of the first line of the article occurred to me. The judges for American Idol are a Chicano woman, a black man and a white man. The first line also solftly accusses them of being prejudiced based on race. So…black women and white men will always chose against an asian man because of his race? That’s ludicrous.
When Colen Powell was at the Olympics there was a very notable conversation in which he pointed out that the competitors from the other countries have very definite ethnic com position whereas the American competitors could not be distinguished based on their racial characteristics alone.
If Paul succeeds, it will be because he has merit, skill and sufficient good fortune in a combination of events which are designed to judge skill at singig, performance and the populatiry contest which is part of the show.
If Paul does not succeed, it will be because someone else exceeds him sufficiently in those categories.
It will not be because of racial discrimination. If you people really “support” Paul, it should be because of talent. If you “support” him because of his race, you demean his talent. Period.
August 19th, 2007 12:59
edit: I should have typed Paula Abdul is Jewish, not Chicano.