‘American Idol’ notes: Nicki Minaj, Adam Lambert, and Jacob Lusk

Before this season started, we were admittedly rather hesitant to pour on the praise for one “American Idol” judge Nicki Minaj, mostly because we had very little understanding as to who she was outside of someone who wore over-the-top costumes and had songs that were played on the radio a million times a day.

However, the more we actually hear her speak out, the more she comes across as one of the most grounded and sane members of the judging panel. She was an honest judge during the first two nights of auditions, but she did so in a way that was not mean or condescending in any way. In addition to that, she has passion, and will even squabble with some of the other judges if she feel as though they crossed the line. She did just that in Charlotte on Wednesday night, when she felt as though Mariah Carey and Randy Jackson were actually going against the wishes of one of the contestants, who said said that she had “done the country thing” only to have these two tell her that she should go back to country, anyway.

During an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Friday, Minaj talked not only about this, but how much she actually enjoys “American Idol” along with being an artist who travels all around the world. Even if you don’t love her music, it is still an entertaining interview to watch.

This really happened – Who awesome is this photo? We really don’t know how else to describe it other than to talk about the sheer greatness of seeing Adam Lambert receive a rather interesting “dance” courtesy of one of the best entertainers in the business in David Arquette.

Adam was celebrating his 31st birthday early at Bootsy Bellowes (a spot Arquette co-owns) in West Hollywood, and somewhere along the way the season 8 star managed to get a dance from the actor himself. Adam seems to love the extra attention here, as did David, who tweeted out the following message after the fact:

“Happy Birthday buddy. Thanks for celebrating @BootsyBellows.””

Jacob Lusk talks recent lawsuit – Remember that lawsuit of a few days ago, in which several former contestants on “American Idol” proclaimed that race played a role in them being disqualified from the competition? Well, there is someone coming out now who is putting a pretty serious dent in their case.

Speaking in a new interview with RumorFix, season 10 star Jacob Lusk reminds everyone that he was a former contestant on the show who had some oustanding warrants out against him prior to participating on the show, and he was not disqualified for it. Why? It’s not an issue of race, but an issue of being honest about your misdeeds:

“I think me being an African-American male and being on Idol, I think I’m a pretty safe gauge as to whether American Idol is racist and I can undoubtedly say they’re not. 

“I just think that is just so happens that those particular individuals were the ones that lied and got caught. And they tell you, don’t lie to us, we’re going to find out. I mean you have a record, you have a warrant and you get on television, somebody’s gonna tell somebody; somebody’s gonna find out … I don’t think lying ever gets anyone anywhere. I’m the perfect example. When I first auditioned for Idol I had warrants and unpaid tickets and all that stuff and I was honest, I worked it out and we got it cleared … They supported me through it because I was honest about it.”

Allow this to be further evidence that this case is one that should just be thrown out as soon as possible.

Do you want to read some more news about Adam along with Lee DeWyze? If so, be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: Fox