Corey Clark Urges Producers Not to Fire Paula Abdul  5/6/05

The American Idol  reject who went public with his alleged affair with show judge Paula Abdul on US TV on Wednesday (04MAY05) has urged the program's producers not to sack her.

Corey Clark, who was kicked off the second season of the hit talent show for lying about legal issues in his past, appeared on news show Primetime Live to confess Abdul favored him and coached him on his singing and bought him stage attire while they enjoyed a secret fling.

But Clark insists he's still in love with Abdul and doesn't want her to lose her job on the show because of his confessions.

He says, "I'm not attacking her at all. She just happens to be the key to getting this 900-pound gorilla off my back.

"I think they (the media) should look at what I was trying to say, which was that she risked so much to help me avoid the exploitation of the machine called American Idol."

And Clark insists he wasn't using his reported ex to boost his own image on the ABC news special, Fallen Idol, during which he also played a taped message left by Abdul, urging him to say nothing if the press contacted him.

He adds, "I wasn't using her. I didn't step to her, she came and stepped to me. The whole game was brought to my doorstep. I just opened the door.

"I'm cleaning up the mess she helped create. This is me setting the record straight... but I don't want to hurt her... I care about her. I'm not mad at her.

"She shouldn't get fired. They are keeping felons on the show. She didn't do nothing but have sex with someone. Everybody has sex. They should keep her."

Abdul's lawyers have fired back at Clark, insisting all his statements on the Primetime Live show are false.

Meanwhile, canny Clark released his expose about his weeks on American Idol, They Told Me to Tell The Truth, So... (The Sex, Lies & Paulatics of One of America's Idols), through his website one minute after Primetime Live went off the air. 

see also:

5/6/05 Corey Clark: "I Won't Help Producer's Investigation