Open Mouth, Insert Foot, A Faiken Mallady

Often times I read a lot of stupid statements made by celebrities and non-celebrities, and most of the time I laugh and let them go mainly because the offenders are not worthy of criticism. They don’t claim to be the best thing since sliced bread, the solution to human kind problems or the one with the solutions to poverty. They also don’t brag about degrees or make themselves to be above anyone else in the business (except Tom “crazy ass space alien” Cruise, of course). This interview was totally different and it peaked my interest for a couple of reasons, one being it was Clay “the enlightened one” Faiken (and let’s face it, I’m biased) and secondly, it presents the REAL picture of the American Idol 2 runner-up in all his ignorance. Please be advised I interjected a few comments (in yellow). Enjoy the reading:

An Idol Who Really Gives Back

05/07/2007 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Laura Hertzfeld

Before charming the hearts of American Idol fans in 2003, singer Clay Aiken was a teacher, focusing on special education in his native North Carolina. Today, in addition to performing and recording, Clay acts (being the operative word) as an education ambassador for UNICEF, most recently in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Still jetlagged, Clay told Yahoo! Music in his smooth (as in “operator”) drawl why Idol Gives Back won't solve the poverty problem (bitter much?), what it was like to grow a beard (as opposed to using one) and wear long robes, (to feel like wearing a dress) and why he never sings when visiting schools abroad (because he sucks?).

YAHOO! MUSIC: What were your overall impressions of Afghanistan?

CLAY: I think (do you? I don’t think so Faiken) more than anything, the trip to me was a stereotype-breaker because there are so many times in the U.S. that we see in the news the negative things that happen in Afghanistan. We see the head coverings and we think Muslim ,(sure, this coming from someone who dressed like the Taliban and grew a beard, did you say “stereotyping?) we hear about suicide bombings and terrorists, and we think "Middle East." Afghanistan's not in the Middle East, it's in South Asia, and it's not a desert. (uhm Mr. “coughFormerTeachercough”, Afghanistan IS in the Middle East. http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/me.htm) . My friends were all, "It must have been so hot there!" But you can see in some of the pictures the snow-capped mountains (Climate Afghanistan is known for hot summers ). There are many parts of Afghanistan that are really quite a lush landscape. I had a lot of misconceptions about the country and about the people there (it's more like you were... IGNORANT?).

YAHOO! MUSIC: Why education?

CLAY: Well you know, I was a teacher (sure you were Faiken *wink*), so education is kind of important (huh? kind of?) to me. I focus on education mainly (besides checking for manhunt links). with UNICEF on every trip that I take. A number of schools [in Afghanistan] were destroyed during the Taliban era. The schools that were around only housed male students--girls were not allowed to go to school. So now there are twice the numbers of students and there's just not enough room to hold these kids. They are sitting outside on the ground all day.

YAHOO! MUSIC: The Idol Gives Back charity event raised more than $70 million. Could you relate to what you saw your fellow idols doing in Africa and other places? (of course he can’t!)

CLAY: I think there's definitely a problem (yep, YOU!) and I'll point to recent charity events--when people go and they talk about the need in an area or a country and they don't have the information (oh! and you do right? Like Afghanistan NOT being in the middle east? BWAHAHA). If you come back and you talk about the need in a country and don't know what's going on in the country, then you're completely remiss (NO! you’re completely an ASS). There's always a greater cause [to poverty] (like siphoning money out of fans?) than throwing money at the issue, and I think the strongest solution, the strongest weapon we have against poverty and hunger is education When you take a look at something like Idol Gives Back and you realize that the main piece of information we got is that people are hungry in Africa, but we didn't find out why they are hungry in Africa and we didn't out where in Africa they are hungry, nor did we find out the major causes. (Quoting from a great response posted by Ambien, “Does he think the kids in Africa with no parents give a flying fuck about why they are poor or why they are hungry???? No you sanctimonious asshole. They don't because they are just trying to survive while you parade around in your Taliban-wannabee costume”). Without the education about what's going on in the country, we're doing no service except for perpetuating that same stereotype that Africa, or any other country in the world, is lesser than the U.S., and we're in the role that we have to give to them. (…and this is coming from you who don’t even know what countries comprise the Middle East?)

YAHOO! MUSIC: Did you perform for the kids you met in Afghanistan? How did they like your music?

CLAY: [Laughing] I made the mistake in Uganda (…and in MANY other places) of performing for some kids who were in a night commuter center, and they were singing a song and they were clapping. It was kind of a joyful, cheerful song. They didn't know me, but they had heard that I was a singer, and so they asked me to sing a song, and I couldn't think of what to sing (since you don’t have any songs of your own). And someone whispered to me, "Sing 'Bridge Over Troubled Water.'" (‘Cause you knew they would’ve appreciated a “glory” note *eye roll*) And so I got through maybe a line of the song before the kids started laughing at me so hard (I would’ve too!). They'd never heard any music like that before in their lives (uhm, NOOOO, they had never heard someone so crappy in their lives). So I've made it a point when I take these trips to never sing (I thought these were “mission” trips and NOT self-serving ones, humm).

YAHOO! MUSIC: Maybe someday you'll get a request. (Hopefully NOT)

CLAY: Maybe next time I take a trip I'll make it a point to learn a native song. (No, maybe you need to educate yourself about the country before you open your mouth!)

YAHOO! MUSIC: Do you have a favorite story of any of the people you met in Afghanistan or a moment during your trip that touched you the most? (Oh Lawd! Here we go, pull out the violins)

CLAY: One of the things that stuck with me more than anything else was just the hunger, the thirst for education. I mean, these kids wanted to go to school (no shit! You’re soooo observant). My social studies teacher [who accompanied me on the trip]--she was quite jealous (Oh Faiken, everyone is always jealous of you, aren’t they?). She's been teaching for 30 years and she's never had a class full of students who wanted to be there as much as these kids in Afghanistan wanted to be there.

YAHOO! MUSIC: How has your work with UNICEF influenced your music? What do you take back with you? (The money it brings him from his cult followers under the guise of UNICEF/BAF)

CLAY: Every time I come back from these situations, you take a look at what's important to you (money, money, manhunt, and more money), and how privileged we are, and it's easy to take that back. But it's important to remember that we have to be a proactive society (and…and we all know how much you give back. Oh wait, we don’t!) . It's interesting to me to look at Afghanistan and realize that there are countries all around the world that we haven't looked at because they haven't affected us and yet, one of these days it's possible that one of them could affect us. Had we taken a hard look at the needs of women and children in Afghanistan in 1996, it's possible that we could have prevented September 11, 2001. (WHOA! REALLY???? You mean Osama would have been grateful to the USA and not planned Sept. 11??? DAYUM! Why didn’t you tell Bush to send you over instead of bombing the WRONG country????? You would’ve sang a few “If you’re happy and you know it“ type songs and then close with “All is Well”. Who would’ve’ “thunk” it??)

YAHOO! MUSIC: How did it feel to be an American in Afghanistan? Were you welcomed in the towns you visited?

CLAY: One of the main things to remember is that people in Afghanistan did not like the Taliban, either. I was worried going in, imagining what I was going to be involved with and what I was going to find myself running into (Color me confused, but your sentence doesn’t make sense. Why were you worried then, you are NOT Taliban so why would you be afraid? OH I see!! You were disguised as a Taliban reject so you were afraid of their reaction. Oh, Okay. Well, apparently all it did was making them laugh, so you survived. *eye roll*). But, it was quite different. The people were nothing but hospitable, they were completely welcoming and so wonderful. We really just had nothing but a warm welcome everywhere. I thought [Kabul] was going to be a lot more antiquated. It's a bustling metropolis (We could tell, you stood out like a sore thumb, LOL!). There was wireless internet in our hotel, glass elevators; it was right inside a shopping mall like we'd see in the U.S. It's not some sort of deprived and destitute city like I expected to see. (Imagine that! They were actually “modern”. What can I say? It goes back to your statement at the beginning about people who stereotype, like you did. I’m telling you Faiken, it’s ALL about STUDYING your SUBJECT. Remember? Isn’t that the focus of all “teachers”? (Oh right, you are just a teacher, “technically”. Sorry, my bad.)

YAHOO! MUSIC: I saw in pictures of you that you'd changed your looks a bit to fit in there.

CLAY: I wanted to be culturally respectful to the country and the people there. It's kind of part of their culture to be bearded and to be dressed appropriately (AHHHH, DUH! BEFORE the Taliban was eliminated).

But that again is kind of part of the stereotype about Afghanistan, but there's quite a bit of what I guess we'd call "Western" attire in the country. (Don’t you feel like a fool now, Faiken?)

YAHOO! MUSIC: How can young people get involved?

CLAY: Learn about the things! (Like you DIDN’T do). You have to be educated about what's going on in your world. You have to know the problems. Poverty and hunger are only the effects of larger problems. (AAAHHHH, DUH!)

YAHOO! MUSIC: Why is it important for celebrities to be the face of UNICEF?

CLAY: I haven't necessarily heard too much negative, but I think the main problem is the media's attention. We are a society that only pays attention to in the media . (Don’t you know it, you media WHORE!)

We put too much emphasis on celebrities (coming from you, that’s funny).

And even though I am one and I don't mind the attention every once in a while (as I said, MEDIA WHORE), it's sad that you have to have a celebrity to bring attention to these causes. (Have you read about OTHER ambassadors that have made a difference and were NOT media whores????)

YAHOO! MUSIC: Do you still watch American Idol, and do you have an opinion on who's going to win this season?

CLAY: No comment. (…because those SOB’s didn’t invite me to the event and *I* am the most charitable and most philanthropic and most qualified person to take money off people. They missed on all that! I was able to get $180 *didn’tevenmakeadent* thousand dollars off my mates, imagine what I could’ve made if I had been there!!! My mates are millionaires and would’ve given up their inheritances, trust funds. Poker winnings, etc. for me, I mean, “the cause”)

So, as you can see the “former teacher” did not have all his P’s and Q’s when he planned his visit to Afghanistan. Then in his arrogance, he has the nerve to attack an organization for doing what he advised everyone to do, “to be proactive”. So what is it Faiken? If they had invited you to IGB you would’ve been praising the hell out of them while giving yourself part of the credit for the money collected, but since they didn’t you accuse them of not knowing what they’re talking about or what the countries need? Tell it to UNICEF because like RG stated in the previous blog, “UNICEF you have been punk’ed!"

Recap: John Paulus' Emails About Clay Aiken

Last night on his blog, John Paulus posted alleged IM communications that he's had with Clay Aiken. He has since deleted them, but here is part of what he posted (date of the IM is February 5, 2007):

"Ok here's just a tease. I will provide no more than this.

Clay (2/5/2007 6:02:53 PM): How is your new job? Going well?
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:03:38 PM): My new job is just a temporary thing, but it is doing well. Thank you.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:03:56 PM): It got me out of the house and interacting with people.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:04:02 PM): Plus, I love to work.
Clay (2/5/2007 6:04:24 PM): That's good. Hopefully things will start going better for me in the next few months.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:04:28 PM): Hate getting up so early though. I am a night owl, so these early mornings are rough.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:04:37 PM): I hope they do.
Clay (2/5/2007 6:04:55 PM): They will.
Clay (2/5/2007 6:04:56 PM): I know that for a fact.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:05:00 PM): Good.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:05:33 PM): Don't tell me about it if you've told your other online friends. I don't want to be accused of leaking the information.
Clay (2/5/2007 6:05:33 PM): Do you know who that Percocet is?
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:05:49 PM): I don't know of her personally.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:06:17 PM): I do know that it is someone you use to IM and e-mail with some time ago.
Clay (2/5/2007 6:06:17 PM): Her? Female?
Clay (2/5/2007 6:06:18 PM): Do you know what her first name is?
Clay (2/5/2007 6:06:28 PM): Is her first name Sue?
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:06:31 PM): It's a female.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:06:38 PM): It is NOT Sue.
Clay (2/5/2007 6:06:59 PM): Thankfully.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:07:06 PM): If you are thinking that it's your friend Sue, I can tell you that it is not.
Clay (2/5/2007 6:07:06 PM): Do you know Sue?
Clay (2/5/2007 6:07:25 PM): Friend...ha.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:07:25 PM): Yes, but not too well.
John Paulus (2/5/2007 6:08:11 PM): Now you aren't being nice to me to get information are you?
Clay (2/5/2007 6:08:31 PM): No!
Clay (2/5/2007 6:08:53 PM): Just curious.
John Paulus Homepage 05.07.07 - 11:55 pm #"

In the above IM, John appears civil with "Clay", even expressing concern over being regarded as someone who "leaks" information about him. Early this morning, John Paulus denied that he had made any statements in any e-mails about Clay Aiken's weight or sexual activities at his home.

"First of all, I didn't see what was posted at Perc's blog, but if it had on there comments about him being too fat to top or about having sex while others were upstairs then I can assure you that those comments did NOT come from me.
John Paulus Homepage 05.08.07 - 2:34 am #'

Here are e-mails from John containing exactly such information about Clay. Notice in the last e-mail, John's effort to manipulate Percocet into blogging about the Scandals blog. In other e-mails, John passed along information with the expectation of Percocet blogging about it.

The following e-mails dated February 3, 2007 were posted on this blog on February 28 here:

http://claymate411.blogspot.com/2007_02_25_archive.html#5970234711552817050

Any of these e-mails can be forwarded to anyone who questions their authenticity. John's comments are in red.

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Subject:
Re: Check this out.
Date:
2/3/2007 7:20:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
jonahcruise@yahoo.com
Reply To:
To:
com
CC:
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Sent on:
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Oh, you can bet I don't trust him. Not as far as I could through him and despite my prolific weight training, that wouldn't be very far at all. I believe about 15% that comes from his mouth and that's no exaggeration whatsoever. Listen, I get to talk or chat with him often. I know him VERY well and I know many of his friends. We all know that he's a habitual liar- and NOT very good. For this very reason alone, I imagine many in the entertainment industry don't want to bother or have anything to do with him. The man is a mess and he is doing it to himself.

.com wrote:
Hi John,

I'm glad you gave Clay a talking to. I believe Clay was either high or out of his mind when he made that blog. All his nutcase fans feel like Clay has called them to battle. Unreal. Please be careful with Clay. I've had experience in my life with both drug users and people with mental illness who wouldn't get help and I've learned that you can trust neither.

If I were you, I wouldn't trust Clay at all right now. Don't confide in him. If he's out of sorts enough to fuck with his official fan club, I don't think there is anyone who he wouldn't hurt. Hell, he's even at the point where he is hurting himself and he doesn't seem to care. Clay has the money to get the best possible help for himself but he refuses to, and if he doesn't, he's going to go down in flames and he'll deserve to. Don't let him take you with him.

_________________________________________________________________

Subject:
Re: Check this out.
Date:
2/3/2007 8:42:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
jonahcruise@yahoo.com
Reply To:
To:
\.com
CC:
BCC:
Sent on:
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Well, I know Clay a lot better than he thinks I do. He thinks I am gullible, that I have no doubt. I just want to tell you a quick story. There's this guy that's been wanting to go out with me for about 18 months, but he lives in Chapel Hill which is nearly an hour from me so I have been reluctant. He's very very attractive and athletic, any way, he was telling me that Clay started to chat with him online and that they went out to lunch. He made it clear at lunch to Clay that there wouldn't be anything sexual whatsoever between them. He hasn't heard from Clay since. However, Clay has been seeing his friend on a regular basis. I'm telling you, Clay has got to be the biggest whore in the Raleigh area. Without a doubt. Oh, and just for a bit more of information. Both guys are TOPS! Could it be that Clay is now a bottom? Maybe his belly sticks out more than his d**k does and he can't use it anymore. lol

.com wrote:
LOL! John, you sure have Clay's number! I love it!! See, Clay is convinced that there's nobody smarter than he is. But you and I both know that YOU are! I hope he keeps running his mouth to you and you sit back and laugh because you know you've got him! LOL

____________________________________________________________

Subject:
Re: Check this out.
Date:
2/3/2007 8:58:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
jonahcruise@yahoo.com
Reply To:
To:
com
CC:
BCC:
Sent on:
Sent from the Internet (Details)

No, he has no idea that I know about him going to lunch with this guy or that I know of the guy that's been topping him on a regular occassion. There are a lot of guys that I know that Clay's been with. One day when he pulls some crap with me and tries to feed me one of his lies like; I've learned my lesson and I'm not hooking up anymore, then I'll ask- does that include so and so who had you screaming and reaching for your pillow and Kristy was sleeping upstairs in her room. lol I've already shocked him with a half a dozen guys names he's been with that no one has even heard about. Perhaps, this is why he talks to me- afraid that I'll reveal even more about him. I can tell you right now that Matt Clemens and my knowledge about the whole episode really worried him. He told me that himself. He said that if people found out he cut his concert off early and held up the tour bus to meet with Matt one last time, it could ruin him. That is what forced him to say "uncle" and apologize. Not that it was meaningful, but at least I got him to give in. Something I am sure very few people have been able to do.

.com wrote:
Does Clay know you were considering dating the guy from Chapel Hill? If so, that is a nasty betrayal! I'd LMAO if you ever hit it off with John Dahlstrom! Clay IS a whore in ALL aspects of his life.

________________________________________________________________

Subject:
Re: Check this out.
Date:
2/3/2007 9:22:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
jonahcruise@yahoo.com
Reply To:
To:
com
CC:
BCC:
Sent on:
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Oh, if you only knew how many times I sit back and laugh at him as he tries to BS me and I let him think that I believe him. Then once he's in so deep, I throw in something like this; well if that's the case and you've learned not to cheat then why did you try to hook up with Brandon while in Maryland on your tour. By the point, I normally get- "I've got to go. Talk to you later." Yes, with Clay's blog the focus of rebuttal should not have been to argue the point of whether or not he was dismissing the tabloid or Perez's claims, but how he's encouranging the youths on his sight to write about sex and how that is so not role model like. See this is something that the rabid mates would have much more difficulty arguing with and it will have thrown it back into Clay's face and caused his little blog to have backfired. He wants people to debate the truthfullness of the webcams, but he would never imagine that the debate would have been his encourgement of "sex stories" staring Clay Aiken and then rewarding perhaps a 13 year old fan for it. I think you really should consider writing a blog about that aspect of it and use a picture of Clay with children with a headline, Clay encourages his fans to write a sex scandal staring him.

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So, it appears that John was quite comfortable presenting one face to "Clay", all the while propagating rumors and gossip about Clay's private life and revealing his duplicity and hypocrisy in his e-mails to Percocet. John now claims that he thinks Clay is a "nice" guy, and has referred to himself as "nice" and "honest". It's interesting that John seems to have a very different definition of "nice" and "honest" than most people.

All of John's e-mails to Percocet can be found in the archives here:

Jan. e-mails:

http://claymate411.blogspot.com/2007_02_25_archive.html#6048661605430640438

Feb. e-mails:

http://claymate411.blogspot.com/2007_02_25_archive.html#5970234711552817050

Mar. e-mails:

http://claymate411.blogspot.com/2007_02_25_archive.html#6427057342848579935