Media - This One Is For You

Yes, I'm sick of your misleading "facts", your outrageous lies and your crappy yellow journalism. For anyone in the media, this article is for you.

You know, I'm sure many Clay fans have always thought alone the same lines as Clay. When he makes a UNICEF appeal for the children of the world, his calls go unheard. When he sleeps and accidentally touches a woman's armrest, it makes headlines on CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, USA Today, the Washington Post, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider... you get the point.

This is the sad realization of today's money and sensationalism driven media. Never mind the truth... in fact none of the stories you see below mentioned the important fact that Clay was asleep when he accidentally bumped his feet on to the woman's arm rest!!! In fact, most of these articles blame Clay as being the bad guy who started it.

But, one quote I read this morning did make me laugh:

Pretty amazing how the day they do this live earth concert and Clay is doing his own thing, he makes the front page of cnn, abc, nbc, fox need I go on, and all he did was take a nap!!!!

... and this person is absolutely right. In fact, Clay blogged himself to voice these same frustrations. So, for the record, in case the media is listening up, here is Clay Aiken's first statements regarding the media circus. And, as if you cared, here are the facts. I hope Clay doesn't mind us posting this tiny portion from his blog to highlight the utterly ridiculous state this story has morphed into:

If I were the desperate and threatened children of northern Uganda, who also have gotten almost no attention from the press (again, with the same exception of ET), I would be upset and dismayed that a stupid celebrity non-story is the top story on most news sites today.

Then again, as much as the media seems to screw up the actual facts in a situation, maybe they're better off anyway.

1. Clay was asleep on a Continental Airlines flight traveling from Houston, TX to Tulsa, OK on Saturday July 7 when his foot accidentally touched his neighbor's armrest.
2. Clay was attacked by the the woman sitting beside in front of him and awoke to her shouting and swinging at him.
3. Clay was asked to stay aboard the plane to sign some procedural documents.
4. Clay chose not to press charges.
5. Clay Aiken did not incite the unruly behavior of the woman sitting beside him.
6. ... and no, Clay is not under FBI investigation. No one was charged.
   

And if this doesn't help all you media editors who I know are reading this post ... let me remind you of what happened, via an eyewitness:

I was sitting across the aisle from Clay Aiken and the woman who hit him. I looked over at him at one point and he appeared to be sleeping. I would have loved an autograph, but didn’t want to bother him. I was reading a magazine when suddenly I heard the woman across the aisle shouting, and I saw her hitting at Clay. He looked startled, apparently just woke up, and tried to talk to her and calm her down but she kept hitting at him. At that point a flight attendant came over and blocked my view so I couldn’t see anymore. Later on I signed a statement as a witness to her attack. I don’t know if Clay pressed charges against her or not.

... and here is some of the twisted tales the media is pushing out... sigh... anything to create sensationalism, ratings and hits, huh?

• iVillage -

  It seems Clay had his foot on his neighbor's armrest during the Continental flight to Tulsa. The woman allegedly gave Clay a "minor shove" to remind him of his manners, which resulted in a little scuffle that the flight crew had to resolve!
  
  Who does he think he is? -- (CDD note... ahem... he was like many other passengers - SLEEPING!!!)
  

• Buddy TV -

  Air travel can be a stressful enterprise. Just ask the one and only Clay Aiken, American Idol runner-up. It's being reported today that over the weekend Clay Aiken was involved in a dispute with a woman while aboard a Continental flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Details are vague, but the gist seems to be something like this: Aiken was resting his foot on the armrest of a woman sitting next to him. (CDD note... uh... no, that was not the full gist of it... in fact, the most important "gist" was left out!)

• E! Online -

  The 28-year-old singer, who finished second on the popular Fox talent show in 2003, was on a Continental Airlines flight Saturday morning bound for Tulsa International Airport, when he got into an altercation with a female passenger after she complained about his foot on her armrest. (CDD note... you get the point now, don't you? Clay was sleeping.)

• MTV -

  Clay Aiken tangled with a fellow passenger on a flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday morning, AP reports, leading to an FBI investigation but no arrests. The FBI told Tulsa World that there was a dispute on the aircraft between a male former "American Idol" contestant and a woman on the plane, but would not confirm Aiken's identity. The argument allegedly began over the male passenger's putting his foot on the woman's armrest, and the female passenger reportedly gave the man "a minor shove." There were no injuries reported, though Aiken did joke onstage Saturday night that he'd been beaten up by a girl earlier in the day. ...

• ok... you get it now... we're just going to list a few more. If you really need more, you'll find a ton on Google News...
  
• People Magazine
• Entertainment Tonight