American Idol - David Hernandez has a stripper past

[EXPAT]

[he was my favorite even before I knew about this ;-)]

 

Strip Club: 'Idol' Once Danced Here

Email this Story

 

Mar 4, 8:50 AM (ET)

 

By DERRIK J. LANG

 

(AP) American Idol Season 7's Top 24 contestant David Hernandez poses at a party in their honor, in this...

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "American Idol" contestant David Hernandez once entertained audiences by removing his clothes instead of singing tunes, a manager at a male strip club in Phoenix told The Associated Press.

The 24-year-old finalist from Glendale, Ariz., once worked as a stripper at Dick's Cabaret, appearing fully nude and performing lap dances for the club's "mostly male" clientele, club manager Gordy Bryan said Monday.

"He had the look and the type that people like, so he made pretty good money here," Bryan said.

It's not clear whether a history as a stripper could disqualify Hernandez from the competition. In 2003, finalist Frenchie Davis was dismissed because of her appearance on an adult Web site; but last year, Antonella Barba remained in the competition after racy photos of her surfaced on the Internet.

 

Fox spokeswomen Jill Hudson did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment Monday.

According to Bryan, Hernandez steadily worked at the club for three years until September 30, 2007.

"He never renewed his licensing with the state, so he hasn't been on my roster since then," Bryan said.

Bryan said he was aware that Hernandez was a vocalist, but that Hernandez never sang at the club. Bryan said he now believes Hernandez stopped working at the club because of his participation in "American Idol." Hernandez has never been referred to as a stripper or former stripper during the Fox singing competition.

Rumors of a stripper past - along with photos of a scantily clad Hernandez working as a bartender at gay nightclub Burn - were first posted last week on VoteForTheWorst.com, a site that encourages "Idol" viewers to vote for "the bad and truly entertaining contestants."

"It was like moths to a flame," said VoteForTheWorst.com founder Dave Della Terza. "As soon as I posted that, we started getting 10, 20 letters every single day from people saying, 'Yeah, he's a stripper in Phoenix.'"

Terza and other members of VoteForTheWorst.com community scoured MySpace, Photobucket and other social networking and photo sharing sites to find information and images of Hernandez. Terza said he contacted the club to confirm the Internet chatter, but they never got back to him.

"They said they couldn't give me a statement before talking to their lawyers," said Terza.

Hernandez, who originally auditioned for "Idol" in San Diego on July 30, 2007, is in the Fox singing competition's top 16 contestants. Last week, he earned rave reviews from the judges after his performance of The Temptations'"Papa Was a Rolling Stone." He is scheduled to perform with the other male contestants on Tuesday's show.

 

http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/Idol_Stripper.sff_NY1126_20080303233544.jpg

[ariadne1880]

Saw some shirtless pics of him. For a stripper, he has not abs. Needs to work on that.

 

Mark

[JT Brooklyn]

Now IF it was the Cherub/Choir Boy with a Stripper Past.. That would be very interesting!

 

My theory has always been..IF YA GOT IT..Flaunt It!

 

It will be interesting to see how this is handled..Hopefully IF he did a little more than Work It on the Stage..Some A/H past "Client" doesn't look for the publicity? Then again most CLIENT'S don't look for the Publicity like SOME of the Working Guys seem to "thrive" on! ;-)

[+ Lucky]

I read a couple of the articles on the internet about this, and then I looked at the website votefortheworst.com which is pushing the story. I am amazed that his former customers are falling all over themselves to confirm the story. Sometimes the lack of loyalty of gay men astounds me. Then, for the owner of Dick's to grab the publicity is reprehensible, in my opinion.

 

For me, the vulgar Christmas video Robbie did is worst than David stripping. For all I care, all the boys can sing naked tonight.

[ariadne1880]

"Loyalty to a gay stripper"

 

I must have missed that in the gay handbook. What kind of "loyalty" does a customer of a gay bar owe to a person who strips in one?

 

Nada. Nothing. None.

 

One can argue about the propriety of it all but to claim it's a lack of "loyalty" is hysterically funny, if not sad.

 

Next you'll be telling us there is a secret gay handshake that everyone has to keep from straights.

 

Silliness reaches new heights.

 

PS: Isn't David Archuleta a Mormon? Seems I read that somewhere ...

 

Mark

[+ Lucky]

Loyalty, of course, is an individual thing. If I like a stripper, and he gives me a good time, why would I want to interfere when he tries a career goal wherein his stripper past is not an asset?

 

Whatsmore, why are all these former patrons jumping all over themselves to provide the dish?

[+ Cash4Trash]

Loyalty in the sense that he's a young man with a good voice trying to build a career. The joy we take in kicking people around astounds me.

 

So a kid who needed some money earned it stripping, big fucking deal.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all that.

 

As I once told an escort - "Gimme your face, body and hard dick and I'm your competition, not your client".

 

I'm still building the retirement kitty so if there's a club hiring 67 year old strippers count me in. :9

[JT Brooklyn]

Cash..Damn Straight!!!.. "Gimme Your Face-Bod-Dick and I'm Your Competition"! LUV IT!

 

The "Characters" coming out of the WoodWork to Haunt this Kid, are really SAD individuals!

 

It's Reality though..You gotta realize You put yourself out there..It can come back to "Bite You in Your Cute Ass".

 

Of course it NEVER happens to those who deserve that Bite! ;-)

[soccerjock624]

ERGGGG doesnt it ever annoy anyone that someone cannot even go on a singing competition without having all kinds of shit drawn up about them stripping at a club? Sorry i just dont understand why its a big deal...who cares, if he sings well thats all that should matter

[ariadne1880]

The bottom line is that if you are going to put yourself before the public then anything you have done in your past, present or future is going to be fair game.

 

Why does that surprise anyone? That's the way it is. Get over it. It's human nature.

 

No one -- except his priest, his friends, and his family -- owe this guy any loyalty. Whatever his ex-girlfriends or boyfriends, people he may have escorted for, or anyone else of that ilk owe him nothing. He got from them what he wanted: money. They don't owe him anything more. If he didn't want this to come out at some point, he shouldn't have done it.

 

Period. This is about personality responsibility. I wouldn't, for one, go public if someone I fucked decided to run for president. I just don't think that's the right thing to do. But I am certainly not going to tell anyone else what they should do in that situation.

 

Mark

[MiamiLooker]

>I wouldn't, for one, go public if someone I fucked decided to run >for president.

 

As John McCain breathes a sigh of relief....

[ariadne1880]

Ah, the kindergarten set has been heard from.

 

Mark

[Guest ReturnOfS]

Now if he'd just perform on American Idol all oiled up and in a g string }( :9

[Philly Guy]

>Period. This is about personality responsibility. I wouldn't,

>for one, go public if someone I fucked decided to run for

>president. I just don't think that's the right thing to do.

>But I am certainly not going to tell anyone else what they

>should do in that situation.

>

 

Of course you would not go public, Mark, you can't even write a decent review. If you went public about fucking someone, no one would believe it.

 

Now about the Kindergarden Set, you now heard from the guy with the 28 IQ

[+ purplekow]

From my point of view, information regarding his being a stripper has no chance of doing anyone good and the information has a chance to be hurtful to this young man, competing in a singing contest. There is no reason for this be front and center.

 

The gossip driven segments of life in the US get larger and larger and while there are circumstances in which revealing this information does serve the larger good, in this case, and in most cases of gossip in the entertainment industry, the only end being served here is that of the tell all tabloids and their tv show counterparts.

[ariadne1880]

So, let me get this right. The information coming out that he was stripper could be "harmful to this young man" but his actually being a stripper was not "harmful to this young man?"

 

Ah, that's values for you.

 

He made a choice to be a stripper. How can he -- or anyone else complain -- when that comes out?

 

If he had chosen to be a soldier and fought in Iraq and that came out? So what?

 

If he had worked at McDonald's and that came out? So what?

 

It's a choice he made; he's now in the public eye. What he has been doing with his life immediately leading up to his being on American Idol is information and it's news.

 

I don't see him complaining. Why is everyone else?

 

Mark

[Guest GBoy]

I am very glad he perform very well tonight and he has a chance to be in the top 12. I think he is very talented and good looking young man who came from a poor background, now has a chance to make something of himself on his talent not just his look. There is nothing wrong with being a stripper, but as a job go, being a pop star is much more interesting job than being a stripper, and it also pays more. It's obvious the guy who turn him in to the gossip site has his own interests in mind. I guess everyone would do whatever that's in their own interests. One good thing came out of this is that David is either gay or gay friendly. I am just glad there is another homo representation on the show. Gays really shine this year.

[+ Gar1eth]

>The bottom line is that if you are going to put yourself

>before the public then anything you have done in your past,

>present or future is going to be fair game.

>

>Why does that surprise anyone? That's the way it is. Get over

>it. It's human nature.

>

>No one -- except his priest, his friends, and his family --

>owe this guy any loyalty. Whatever his ex-girlfriends or

>boyfriends, people he may have escorted for, or anyone else of

>that ilk owe him nothing. He got from them what he wanted:

>money. They don't owe him anything more. If he didn't want

>this to come out at some point, he shouldn't have done it.

>

>Period. This is about personality responsibility. I wouldn't,

>for one, go public if someone I fucked decided to run for

>president. I just don't think that's the right thing to do.

>But I am certainly not going to tell anyone else what they

>should do in that situation.

>

>Mark

 

 

Pretty dang cynical Mark. I mean I am not a Pollyanna--ok actually I am--but I have to agree that's it's not that relevant--ok it's minorly interesting--but now we all know about it--so it should be dropped. It's out there, he did it--what more is there to say? Except that possibly Frenchie should sue to get back on the show if he gets to stay.

 

Gman

[Guest zipperzone]

>"Loyalty to a gay stripper"

>

>I must have missed that in the gay handbook. What kind of

>"loyalty" does a customer of a gay bar owe to a

>person who strips in one?

>

>Nada. Nothing. None.

>

>One can argue about the propriety of it all but to claim it's

>a lack of "loyalty" is hysterically funny, if not

>sad.

>

>Next you'll be telling us there is a secret gay handshake that

>everyone has to keep from straights.

>

>Silliness reaches new heights.

>

>PS: Isn't David Archuleta a Mormon? Seems I read that

>somewhere ...

 

And what the hell does Archuleta being a Mormon have to do with Hernandez stripping? Or are you about to imply guilt by association?

[Guest zipperzone]

>The bottom line is that if you are going to put yourself

>before the public then anything you have done in your past,

>present or future is going to be fair game.

>

>Why does that surprise anyone? That's the way it is. Get over

>it. It's human nature.

>

>No one -- except his priest, his friends, and his family --

>owe this guy any loyalty. Whatever his ex-girlfriends or

>boyfriends, people he may have escorted for, or anyone else of

>that ilk owe him nothing. He got from them what he wanted:

>money. They don't owe him anything more. If he didn't want

>this to come out at some point, he shouldn't have done it.

>

>Period. This is about personality responsibility. I wouldn't,

>for one, go public if someone I fucked decided to run for

>president. I just don't think that's the right thing to do.

>But I am certainly not going to tell anyone else what they

>should do in that situation.

 

You are such a turd..... in so many ways. Now start whining about bullying again!

[Guest zipperzone]

>Saw some shirtless pics of him. For a stripper, he has not

>abs. Needs to work on that.

 

Trust you to find something to bitch about.

[JT Brooklyn]

ZIP..It looks like both the Aussie and Orlando Blooms Entertainment Factor are coming to an end! They both did Terrible Last Night...

The Choir Boy was told to Stop singing "Depressing" Songs! LOL

 

I'm thinking in the Male Category..Choir Boy-Cook-Stripper will be left standing. The "Stripper's" Pix's on those Cheesy P/R Shows did look good though! He worked it for 3 Year's N I C E !

 

Jessica Alba's TWIN Brother couldn't be any Gayer! I doubt he's going to go much further with or without the Hips! LOL

[ariadne1880]

Hey, Phillyguy, yo mamma called. She wants her bra and panties back.

 

Mark

[ariadne1880]

I never said it was "relevant." I could care less. But if you go before the public everything you did in your past will come out. That's a fact of life. You would think that people would realize this by now.

 

How the heck did he really think he had any expectation that it wouldn't come out?

 

Now, it's up to people to decide whether or not it matters. My guess would be that no one will really care. It might actually make him more interesting since his singing is a bit mediocre and bland.

 

Mark

[ariadne1880]

Zipperzone calling me a turd. That's like being called ugly by a frog.

 

Hey, your IQ is getting down there to Phillyguy's level. Watch out or he's going to ask you for his cock ring back.

 

Mark