"American Idol" has not seen a sparring match between contestant and judge cause so much controversy since Justin Guarini and Simon Cowell threw down in season one.
Quentin Alexander and Harry Connick Jr. changed all that last night when the "War of Whack" erupted on the "Idol" stage.
Alexander entered his performance knowing his two good friends Joey Cook and Rayvon Owen had fallen into the bottom two for the night; Owen returned there for the third week in a row.
He performed Lenny Kravitz's "Are you Gonna Go My Way" and received a harsh criticism from Connick Jr. who praised the band more than Alexander. Visibly distraught after his judgment, host Ryan Seacrest pushed Alexander to say what he was feeling and he did.
"This sucks," Alexander said signaling toward Cook and Owen. "You got two of the best vocalists sitting over there. My best friend is sitting over there. This whole thing is wack."
Connick quickly shot back at the seemingly disrespectful comments made by the singer once he had left the stage.
"Quentin, if it's that whack, you can always go home," the judge said. "'Idol' is paying a lot of money to give you this experience, and for you to say that to the hand that is feeding you right now, I think is highly disrespectful."
Alexander made his way back to the stage and approached Connick directly to clarify his remarks. He insisted that he meant no disrespect toward the show. The two parted amicably, but the tension was felt throughout the studio.
"We all have moments that we can't control, that are just the reality of it," Alexander told Headlines & Global News exclusively. "It's not all smiles, and there is genuine emotion and hurt seeing one of your closest friends [Cook] go home. You can think what you want about what I said, but just know I wasn't trying to disrespect anyone, it was about the situation."
"American Idol" contestants rarely unleash their real feelings, especially on camera. Alexander's fellow contestants and mentor Scott Borchetta applauded Alexander for speaking up.
"I thanked him for keeping it real. Hell yes," Borchetta told HNGN. "I stand by him 100 percent. He's a great artist, and I always want an artist who's going to be polarizing. I'm not in the business of nice, I'm in the business of passion, and Quenton Alexander is a passionate, great artist."
The founder of Big Machine Records even compared the young "Idol" performer to his label's top and "nicest" artist, Taylor Swift.
"[Swift] also has a point of view," Borchetta said. "When she and I lock arms on an issue, we lock arms. Like we aren't afraid to say that free music is wrong, music has value, we have no problem taking a stand, none of my artists do."
Owen also stuck up for his best friend on "Idol."
"It may have been a wild way to express it, but it meant a lot to me and Joey," he told HNGN. "I'm thankful that he said what he did, and I gave him a big hug and thanked him for expressing it. We don't really get the chance to do that on the show. He took the chance to honor Joey and I, and he got to come back and explain himself. It just showed how much we all really do care about each other."
"American Idol" returns next Wednesday at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox. The Top 6 finalists will perform "Arena Anthems."
