Recently theTVaddict.com was lucky enough to take part in what has become a rite of passage for the weekly AMERICAN IDOL cast off. The dreaded exit interview with the media.
And while we could spend gigabytes of valuable bandwidth discussing Mr. Hernandez’s future goals and career objectives in the world of music. This TV Addict knows all too well that when it comes to Celebrity in Hollywood, people only cares about one thing. SCANDAL! SEX! AND PHOTOS! Err… make that three things.
Thus, the following is what Hernandez had to say about his rocky road to reality TV infamy. And if you really are concerned with Hernandez’s burgeoning music career, I’ll nutshell it. He’s unemployed and is looking for a recording contract.
With all the news floating around the past couple of weeks, do you feel like that’s been a distraction to you in any way, or have you managed to block it all out?
David Hernandez: You know, I did a pretty good job of blocking it all out, as you probably saw on TV. I actually watched my performance back from Tuesday night and I was very happy with my stage presence and everything like that. It was just unfortunately not the best song selection in the judges’ eyes, and America voted. No, actually, I’ve been staying away from the Internet and the TV. If this is the worst thing that comes out of my career, then I’m pretty set to go. Do you know what I mean?
This has actually been really good for me, because I’ve learned how to have a thick skin and still be able to get on stage and perform for 35 million people.
Do you think your Idol experience was shortened because voters or the public was uncomfortable with your past as an exotic dancer
No, I really don’t think so. I actually believe that it was based on song selection. I think America’s smart enough to know by know that people’s personal lives should not influence their musical career.
I’m interested in asking you about last week even more, because last week all this news comes out and I’m thinking how do you even walk out on the stage? I couldn’t even breathe when you first walked out, and then you went out there and you more than nailed it, but what was going on inside? Would you think you even gave a better performance because you were going through such an intense time?
I think adversity is my best friend, to be completely honest. I think it’s something that inspires me. It makes me work harder and I don’t have anything to say to the people that try to bring me down or count me out. I just tell them to count me back in, because, honestly, that’s all you can do. In this industry, you really have to have thick skin and know that people are going to say bad things about you, and if this is the worst thing that people say about me in my career then I think that I’ll be okay.
On this morning’s broadcast of The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck thought your elimination might have been some kind of a conspiracy. Do you have any belief in that, or do you just think it was a lack of home viewer votes?
First of all, I would like to thank Elizabeth for defending me and feeling that I was eliminated a little prematurely, but I don’t like to speculate about that kind of stuff, because I like to have faith in Idol. They’ve given me this huge platform and I totally respect everything that they do on that show. If that was the case, it really doesn’t matter anymore. I’m off the show. I’m not going back on, obviously, unless they were to pull me as a wildcard, which would be amazing. But, I would like to think that America voted on me and it was legitimate.
I know you don’t want to drive on this too much, but when you went into the top 24 and you started to do really well on the show, did you worry that anything of your past was going to come out? Was that something that was on your mind?
Absolutely not. I’m not ashamed of anything that I’ve done in my past. I’m actually looking forward to moving on in the future, because singing is really what matters in my career, and that’s what mattered in the competition. So, no, the only thing I was worried about was my song selection.