Hung out to dry

William Hung, for those of you who don't know (and be thankful you've gotten this far without the introduction), is a phenomenon that was created from the American Idol series (another train wreck in itself).

Basically, he's an Asian civil engineer student who was highlighted for his terrible singing audition with the show's main actors. His spastic dancing and bad singing voice masked by a thick Asian accent were a minute of comic relief on the show. When he was dismissed, because he sucks, Hung made his moneymaking proclamation (and I'm paraphrasing), "I can only do my best".

What a brave soul.

Since then, the public has taken to his unlikely charisma and aggressive merchandising campaign. He's been touring the country ever since, creating albums and raking in the money.

I cheer for handicapped children who work through their disabilities and manage to excel among their peers in the face of ridicule and adversity. I cheer for the underdogs (well, not always) - the Davids against Goliaths, like moderate Democrats, K-Mart and the New York Mets.

But f-ck William Hung. I don't credit him with any interesting or curious dynamic. He's not a daring soul that represents the spirit of his fans. He's just a bad singer.

Why he pisses me off

Somehow, his big break came from public curiosity about his "courage". The guy knew he sucked, but he went on. Somehow, this "courage" gave him a name after the show, which led to the touring and media attention. Personally, I know guys who will run through a mall wearing nothing but a pair of dirty underwear around their heads. That's courage.

Aside from "courage", people know Hung because he's awful. He's popular because he's awful. What kind of B.S. is that? I'd like to try that! I'll do a terrible, negligent job for the next month, and when my boss chastises my performance, I'll tell him, "I am untrained, and I can only do my best". If I William Hung him right, he'll admire my "courage" and buy my new album at Sam Goody.

Finally, the guy has obviously let this crap go to his head. Posting pics from the many girls that dig Hung's nerdish lack of charm, he's got fan clubs out the ying-yang (no cultural pun intended). What the hell is wrong with today's kids? Can't they fawn over a pro athlete, or maybe one of the 3000 actors on the WB primetime lineup? Why William Hung?

On a funny note to wrap this crap up with, williamhung.reallyrules.com (which was obviously misguided from the get-go) has ended their fan site with a two line message: "William Hung's official site plagiarized us, so we took this site down because we no longer support him. He has no talent and this entire record deal has gone way too far."

Amen, brother.

-GK