Music News - Families Push Their Idols
01 March 2004 - 0 Comments
Family and friends of the second wave of NZ Idol wannabes are getting set to mount their own campaigns.
This follows the controversy surrounding the campaign led by Filipo Saipani's family to gain the 18-year-old votes.
The father of second-round contestant Jessie Cassin said he suspected that the families of other competitors were canvassing like the Saipanis, but more subtly.
"I tell people I know really well to vote for my daughter or else," Andrew Cassin said.
"We don't put posters up in public, and perhaps that's where his family went wrong, but we've called around and emailed friends and other people, telling them Jessie's our daughter and their support would help."
The partner of another contestant competing against Cassin said she also used the grapevine.
"Most of the contestants want to know that they can do it on their own merits, but family and friends can't help but gather as much support as they can for them," she said.
"I don't have any problem with families trying to get their partner, son or daughter votes, so long as they don't go overboard. At the end of the day the real talent must win."
The decision of the show's producers, South Pacific Pictures and TVNZ, to let Saipani remain because he did not initiate the publicity seemed to be welcomed by Idol fans yesterday.
Saipani was among the first three contestants voted through to the semifinals on Monday but his future was in doubt after the Holmes show aired footage of his Idol performance.
The current affairs show ran an item about how Saipani's family organised the campaign.
The Herald understands the concern was over the footage rather than the publicity the Wellingtonian gained.
TVNZ publicist Jacqui Loates said it was against the rules to broadcast Idol footage outside the show because it gave added exposure to one contestant.
Viewers on an unofficial Idol website were ambivalent about Saipani's close call.
"No need to kick him off," wrote one. "He will go eventually anyway. This is not a contest to see who has the most mates in New Zealand, but who has the most talent."
Another said: "Filipo didn't distribute flyers and send emails. Filipo didn't make Holmes interview him. All he did was be a contestant in NZ Idol and he should not be punished for the actions of others."
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