A former "American Idol" contestant is suing the show’s producers as part of a wage and hour class action lawsuit, claiming she and others should have been paid as employees for the time they spent waiting to audition for the show, adding that she was treated as a "laughingstock" in her first audition.
"American Idol’s producers seem to feel they can break labor laws and exploit ambitious young performers simply because they may be eager for a shot at becoming the next Jennifer Hudson or Carrie Underwood," Normandy Vamos’ attorney, Chantal Payton said in a release.
"Vamos and other performers who create content for American Idol have rights as employees, but the producers have chosen to ignore those rights. They treated them as so-called volunteers, when in reality they are employees who should be paid," Payton added.
Vamos and the other contestants from last season were asked to remain at a Los Angeles hotel and be available for up to 15 hours a day with no compensation, claimed the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last Friday. The lawsuit was filed against ABC and the production companies behind the show on behalf of Vamos and other unpaid or underpaid performers over the past four years.
It claimed that the singers vying to move on to the early "Hollywood Week" portion of the show that followed earlier rounds of auditions should have been paid under California law "because their performances had the potential to air on American Idol," Vamos’ lawyer...
The Department of the Attorney General says the man claiming to be the state’s chief technology officer at national conferences and on online platforms is not affiliated with the state of Hawaii a...