American Idol Contestant Chris Golightly Booted From Top 24
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Chris Golightly
Though Chris Golightly was seen making it through to the Top 24, he was noticeably absent at the end of Wednesday night's episode when the contestants were named individually -- and replaced by Tim Urban, whose entry into the Top 24 was not aired. That same day, however,
Fox released a statement on the matter late Wednesday: "It has been determined that Chris Golightly is ineligible to continue in the competition. 'American Idol' contestant Tim Urban has replaced Golightly as part of the Top 24."
Shortly after Golightly got the news that he'd made the Top 24, a former manager called Lawrence Franklin emailed the network claiming that Golightly was under a recording contract.
Golightly says he then received an email on behalf of the show, telling him that he would be disqualified if, in fact, he was under contract. Golightly claims he then called Lawrence Franklin, reminding him that his contract had ended the month before he'd auditioned for American Idol.
In spite of this, Golightly soon got a phone call from American Idol supervising producer Patrick Lynn, informing him that he had been disqualified.
On the same day, Golightly says he and the show's producers got another email from Franklin, saying that there had been a mix-up and that Golightly had been released from his contract before he'd auditioned.
It seems that the Idol producers had moved too far along to reverse course, as by that point, Tim Urban had already been notified.
"Since then, I've left them voicemails, but they've screened my calls," Golightly says. "They don't even answer me. Nobody."