The Media Interview

Been a lot of talk about a TV interview with American Idol judge Paula Abdul on January 11. People are saying she was drunk; her spokesperson says she was tired after three straight days of media interviews (see his comments below the video). Whatever the cause of her wild swaying and slurred words, she shouldn’t have done this interview, or her handlers shouldn’t have let her do it. She cancelled all interviews the next day, ostensibly because of a sore throat.

Ironically, during her interview with the Seattle station, the focus of which was claims by Simon Cowell that Seattle had the worst singers he’s ever heard, Abdul responds to the anchors at one point by saying “Any publicity is good publicity; you gotta learn to eat it up and embrace it…” Words she’ll need to live by, now.

Here’s part of a Reuters report on the official response:

Abdul’s spokesman, Jeff Ballard, denied that was under the influence of alcohol or on some kind of medication and said the U.S. performer never drank.

Ballard said the interview was one of the last in a string of question-and-answer sessions she had done over two hours on Thursday ahead of a new season of “American Idol,” debuting next week on the Fox network. “She was exhausted. This was at the end of three days of press (interviews and appearances), and she has had cameras following her around for a reality TV show too,” said Ballard, referring to a new documentary series about the star’s life. “She was sitting in a room with just a camera and a mic on, and the controllers dropped the sound twice, which is why she rolled her eyes.”

Ballard said Abdul, 44, had canceled all media interviews on Friday because she had a sore throat after sitting in the chilly studio on Thursday.