Is Clay Aiken Falsely Claiming Credit in Rescuing “Jericho” from Cancellation?

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Clay Aiken was quoted as follows:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/4941513.html?plckCurrentPage=1

“The show Jericho . . . I loved it. I started blogging about it on my fan site. It got canceled, and I blogged about how upset I was. I said, "The Claymates can do anything. How do we get this show back on the air?" Honestly, within a week they had organized a campaign amongst Jericho fans to send nuts to CBS. It kind of started in that place. And it's back on the air! It just blows my mind.”

Clay is clearly claiming that he was responsible for getting “Jericho” back on the air by motivating and influencing his Claymates. In addition, he credits the Claymates for organizing a campaign to save the show.

In response to this interview, however, the following posts were made on the interview site disputing Clay’s claim:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/4941513.html

“sweat1951 wrote: As a Jericho fan who has been involved since the beginning I must object. First, support for saving Jericho did not come from his blog. Secondly,the Claymates had nothing to do with organizing this campaign. The campaign was well under way when someone posted on our message board that the Claymates wanted to get involved. It is unfair for this credit to be taken from the people who actually deserve it. Thank you. 7/5/2007 7:18:16 AM"

"JennyP22 wrote: As a Jericho Ranger who has been involved in the campaing since it started, I feel it necessary to make a correction. While it might be true that Clay did blog about Jericho, the campaign DID NOT stem from his blog. This campaign stemmed from thousands of Jericho fans who wanted CBS to realize that the Neilson ratings were not accurate in how many people watched the show. This campain started on the CBS board, and was greatly assisted by NUTSONLINE.COM. 7/5/2007 7:58:27 AM”

This post was made on this blog, strongly disputing Clay’s claim of being responsible for the “Save Jericho” campaign:

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/zyban/1933811208446689055/#19755

“How dare Clay Aiken take credit on behalf of his blog and his fan group for the Nuts Campaign to Save Jericho? What a bald-faced liar he is. I was VERY much involved in the Save Jericho Campaign and it was absolutely NOT - not not NOT! - created, organized or arranged by the "Claymates". They were certainly not responsible for the original decision to send NUTS to CBS. (Grrrrrrrrrr....) Some Claymates joined the team and participated, yes, as a result of Clay's blog about it, and of course they were certainly welcome to join us. However, they were a small percentage of a very large team of people working together to achieve a common goal, and that team was not called "Clay and the Claymates Save Jericho". It makes me angry to read what Clay has claimed in that interview, and I'm hoping that the *real* Team Jericho coordinators will provide a response to clarify the truth. Haven't the Claymates frequently claimed that Clay is treated unfairly by the rest of the world? Well, how about treating fellow Jericho fans fairly? How about giving credit where credit is due? Why couldn't Clay have said that his blog spurred several of his fans to become part of a much larger group to help save the show? That would be a true statement that would still acknowledge his fans for trying to help save a show he loves. And a quick thanks to Team Jericho would have been nice, since Clay is such a big Jericho fan. Even most of the regular cast members - Skeet, Brad, Lennie, Kenneth, Michael, Alicia, Shoshanna, Erik, and some of the writers, have posted at the CBS message board several times to thank us for our efforts. Whatever, I'm sure Clay will backtrack and say he was "misquoted". A REAL Jericho Ranger | 07.05.07 - 12:13 pm | # “


It appears that Clay has been caught in yet another of a long line of lies, all designed to convey the false perception of influence and popularity where little exists. Will he be publically challenged about his claim? Stay tuned, sports fans! ;)