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suckshardcore wrote:

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It's hard to say, I don't know all 33 million people in Canada. I don't think the voting is particularly racist. I just think most of the audience is white people who don't enjoy R&B and that is usually the style the black contestants on the show sing, same goes for Omar and Lisa who probably won't be voted into the Top 10. If more people who liked R&B made up the core voting audience more of those type of contestants might make it through.

Also I'm going to guess that less minorities try out for the show.

It's a two way street though, if it is racism it's not just white people who don't want to see black people on the show. I was talking to a Jamaican girl at work and we were talking about TV and she was like "I don't watch Canadian Idol, it's lame" and I was like "why?" and she was like "it's all white people, they don't have enough black people." Like really, why does that stop you from watching the show. Either you're also racist and don't want to root for white people or like I said, it's just a matter of not liking that type of music. She might not just be into the more folky-pop/rock direction the show has taken. I just hate to hear "omg Canada is racist," yes some Canadians are racist just like some people in every Country are racist but I don't believe racism is the reason there aren't as many black contestants or minorities or why they don't get voted it. I don't think that many people honestly think, "hmmm this person is black so I'm not going to vote for them" or "oh this person is white, I'm not voting for them."

There was a similar discussion as this last year. While differences in musical taste are a factor, what I really think is that tween fangirls--who make up the majority of voters--judge based on looks. Their favourites are based on who they find "cute" (or androgynous for males), and blackness isn't something that fits in that category. I don't know if that classifies as downright racism, but they will tend to overlook black singers for that reason.

This show has already had an R&B winner. Her name was Eva Avila. Her tone was different and more pop than what is typically heard from black divas, but Eva's song choices and belting style were quite similar. Of course, she was talented enough, but I also think she won because she looked white enough and cute enough for CI voters. Heck, some of the rocker-type fans around here who hate female belters loved Eva. So yeah, I think it's more of fangirl voters judging based on looks than hating R&B.

As for less minorities trying out for this show, blacks and Filipinos (the 3rd and 4th largest minority groups in Canada) have actually had their fair share of representation on CI. If anything, it's the South Asians and Chinese (the two largest groups) who are vastly underreprented. My explanation for this (and I don't mean to stereotype) is that Indian and Chinese parents seem less likely to encourage their kids to pursue music, especially as something more than a side hobby. In Canada, I'm pretty sure those who pursue music full-time are nearly all white with some black R&B types. And with CI pushing more and more for these artsy rock/folk/singer-songwriter types and real "musicians", it's not surprising how white this Top 24 is.

Also, it's not unsual at all for an ethnic group to be less interested in something that doesn't have their people represented. Like how minorities are a lot less likely to vote in elections. Yeah, it's a two-way street, but we live in a PC world where discriminating against minorities is not okay, but affirmative action (or diversity policies) is considered a good thing--supposedly to offset underlying attitudes and factors that discourage minorities in the first place.

suckshardcore wrote:

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I don't mean Canada doesn't like R&B, I mean the Canadians who make up the majority of the CI voting audience don't like R&B.

suckshardcore wrote:

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People who like the straight up and in my opinion boring belting want someone to root for and Jessica is their only option and they're forced to orgasm over her apparently amazing singing which I'd personally classify more as strained yelling.

I don't think any of the Canadians here have ever believed that Canada as a country is racist. It's only come up since some Americans were wondering whenever the KKKanada jokes come up and when we talk about how the black contestants in CI don't got a shot. As someone who has lived in the U.S. before, I agreed that there's definitely less racism in Canada. It seems more integrated here.

What I was talking about is whether the core CI fangirl audience judging based on looks and preferring white contestants (not just the male contestants, but also the females) is considered racist or not. SHC said she doesn't think so because they're tweens and don't know any better. These fangirls' tastes go beyond liking/disliking the type of music given that Jessica--a white girl whose style is clearly mimicked after the stereotypical black diva (a girl who's trying to be the next Whitney as WylDawg likes to put it)--already has a huge fanbase that she probably wouldn't have if she was black.

P.S. Kudos to WylDawg for using the é when spelling Beyoncé. It's something that bothers me when people don't use it. Same with Pokémon which is the next most common around here.