Interesting. Disturbing. It's something that many of us want, but few know how to handle. The spotlight can mean fame and riches; it can also illuminate the more unpleasant aspects of us.

Take Clay Aiken. It seems that the boy next door with his charm, charisma and squeeky clean image is really a ........ Well, see for yourself:

The Gawker
Can we just take a moment to reflect on the darling charm that is beloved American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken? He’s so sweet, so kind—he was even working in special education before prefabricated superstardom came calling.

Gee, wouldn’t it be absolutely crazy if our pasty little pink boy was actually a big fat meanie? According to reports surfacing from the wilds of New Jersey, it just might be possible. While rehearsing with his backup choir from a local school, Aiken allegedly “berated” the kids, deprived them of a timely feeding, banned a teacher from the rehearsal venue, and then presented the school with a fake check for their efforts.

While we rush out and buy Aiken’s heartwarming holiday album, do peruse the full report after the jump.

From: [redacted]
To: Gawker
Subject: Clay Aiken
Date: 12/5/2004

I sent the following email to everyone on my contact list yesterday. I teach English at Clearview Regional High School in Mullica Hill, NJ. It’s a rural community in Gloucester County, South Jersey (about 15 mins. SE of Phila.). I initially shied away from sending this email to you because Clay Aiken threatened to make trouble for our district if we “called the newspaper.” Since I’ve had a day to reflect, I’ve assumed a “f*** this little turd” attitude. Do whatever you want with this stuff…at the very least I thought you might get a mild chuckle out of Aiken pulling a musical Kathie Lee.

—————Original Message—————

Hello all.

Backstory is here.

I have the privilege of working very closely with the exemplary kids in the Vocal Ensemble at the school where I teach. In addition to having many of them in class, I interact with them as an Ensemble chaperone and as the assistant director of the musical theater program. They are wildly talented, brilliant young people. They have performed at Carnegie Hall (and will again in May), the National Cathedral in DC, the Today Show, in a variety of venues on the East Coast and in Canada, and will be featured performers at a music educators’ conference in LA in February. They are the “real deal.”

Earlier this week, several members of the group were invited to perform with American Idol-also ran Clay Aiken in Washington Twp. The kids spent several hours in rehearsal and sound check for this last-minute “opportunity.” In the course of the day, the following incidents took place:

*Although the students were promised photos/autographs/a little bit of face-time with Aiken, he refused all of these after two excited Ensemble members tried to take photos when Aiken entered the theater. In fact, security threatened to have the students removed from the venue. The 50 CDs that the music program purchased for signing were essentially wasted.

* Aiken was extremely terse with the students, at times berating them for reasons that are still unclear.

*The road crew refused to turn down or turn off their music so the students could rehearse the music they had only received 2 days prior.

* Aiken’s people promised to feed the kids at 5:30. Once that time came and went, and the kids were starting to really fade, Ensemble staff bought pizza for the kids with out-of-pocket funds. At about 7 pm, Aiken’s staff showed up with …get ready…McDonald’s Happy Meals.

* When an Ensemble staff member expressed her discontentment with the way the kids had been treated, Aiken engaged the woman in a verbal altercation. This resulted in mini-diva Aiken barring the staff member from the venue, and security escorting this very distinguished educator (a recent NJ State Teacher of the Year) from the theater.

* When the offer to sing was extended to the Ensemble, Aiken’s people promised a decently-sized donation to the Ensemble. A relatively ostentatious show was made of the presentation of a check to a choir member. Later, when the student opened the envelope…it was empty.

Now folks, I have never sent anything to every single person on my contact list until now. Of the thirty kids who performed last night, I saw around 20 of them in classes today. One particularly reflective young man complained, “You know, I’d say I felt like a prostitute, but even a whore would’ve gotten paid. It was more like we got raped.” Hyperbolic, perhaps, but still an apt analogy. Aiken got credit for including local “Claymates” on stage. The kids got a whole lotta grief and not much else.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Monica Yant Kinney follows up on Gawker’s anonymous report of Clay Aiken’s bad behavior in New Jersey at a concert where high schol students joined him on stage, and actually confirms that the account was correct. She verifies that Clay “sicced security goons on a student who snapped a photo during rehearsal” and that his “people made a big show of handing over a promised $500 donation to the Vocal Ensemble — and … the envelope was empty.” The school superintendent, Mike Toscano, is the only person who agreed to comment on the record, saying the students “got a bigger picture of the music industry. They got their eyes opened. They got a taste of real-life show business maybe they didn’t have before.” The others involved “fear paybacks” and refused to be named; one said, “My son wants a future in show business. I don’t want him saying anything negative about the industry.” People: This is not Paulie Walnuts we’re dealing with here. It’s Clay Aiken. Relax. He only kills Satanic kittens.

Meanwhile, Clay’s Christmas special tanked. “NBC’s decision to air its ‘Clay Aiken Christmas Special’ opposite the last original episode of ‘Lost’ — rather than wait a week, when the ABC smash will be in repeats — proved to be a disaster,” Variety reports. Its ratings were “even worse than previous timeslot duds ‘Hawaii’ (2.5/7) and ‘LAX’ (2.1/6), or Fox’s own low-rated Aiken-less ‘American Idol’ holiday hour.” Still, the show may be seen by people sometime in the future, as the special will be on DVD next week.

Clay A. sucks!!!!!

I have no opinion of Clay Aiken but I do have an opinion of people who mass-mail anonymous e-mails to everyone on their mailing list. Sounds very much like a scam. You know, "mail this to everyone you know!" Just my opinion.

I dislike Clay Aiken for many reasons, including but not limited to the fact that the one and only episode of that season's American Idol I happened to catch was one where I flipped past Fox just in time to see/hear Mr. Aiken "singing" Don McLean's Vincent in a manner which stopped my finger poised above the remote and caused me to stare, horrified, at the screen. It's also one reason I dislike Randy Jackson so much. "Well, musically it's not a great song, but you did well with it." I'm very sorry to anyone here that I might offend, and I know that musical tastes are varied and respect that, but I personally can't imagine myself having any genuine interest in a person who could say "musically its not a great song" about that soul-touching, simple, bittersweet ballad, that manages to convey so much meaning and emotion. And Clay managed to ham it up to the point that I almost imagined Bill Murray's lounge singer act. How CAN a person who would do that to a song be...well, never mind.

And as for the allegations about his temperment, his very manner strikes me as simpering, primping and altogether false. I've thought it since the first time I saw him. I may be completely wrong. But if this story WAS true it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I have to agree with Loth here. I don't like Mr. Aiken fore the reasons she so succinctly cited. I also have to agree with her regarding Mr. Jackson's take on "Vincent." Perhaps Mr. Jackson feels that the song isn't great musically, but I think he's dead wrong.

I did a quick Snopes search regarding this story, sadly, there hasn't been an article written on it yet. I'm not a huge fan of those "forward this to everyone you know" emails myself. First of all, my in box is sacred space and I don't like it befouled with spam and mass forwards. Second of all, I don't need a mass forwarded email to tell me how I should feel about something. Third, the only people who ever send me these things are the people who only send me these things. Obviously, we are not friends seeing as how I don't ever get a "Hi, how are you?" I only get poems telling me what a great friend I am when I've most likely bought something from you on Ebay or something similar. Remind me of what a great friend I am when I need help moving.

I don't really care if he did or didn't do this, I don't like him either way. This story didn't add to my dislike of him.