American Idol 2012 contestant Colton Dixon shared details of production’s guidance on how the singers should handle their official American Idol Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Colton explained to NBC’s Today Show that it was suggested that the finalists should avoid potentially polarizing topics like “The Voice” and Idol’s ratings. I’m kidding. The no-no list from American Idol 2012 production was more serious:
“When we first started the Twitter and Facebook stuff, they said beware of political and religious tweets,” he told TODAY.com. “Just because it can turn off voters or whatever. But, you know, being a Christian is who I am. It is a part of me musically. It is what I want to do after the show — go into Christian music.”
“But I think that (the producers) also have a mutual respect that that is a part of who I am,” he explained. “I am not going to hide it, and I am not going to stray away from it just because I am on a TV show.”
Colton has certainly not strayed from sharing his passion for his beliefs despite those warnings. His Facebook page includes updates like this one from Friday:
I am no different than you. We were all called by God to be His messengers. Let’s spread His love to the nations!
But Dixon certainly doesn’t bombard his page’s fans with scripture as a quick glance over the page shows it continues to focus on American Idol 2012 and asking his supporters to vote each Wednesday night. Out of the over twenty most recent Facebook posts the Idol Hopeful made mention of religion only twice.
Without getting into a debate on religion or poltics, do you think American Idol contestants should be free to express whatever they want or is production’s guidance good advice? To be clear, I haven’t seen anything from production that indicates the performers aren’t already free to do as they wish. They’ve simply been warned about potential fallout.
Source: Today Show