Clay Aiken Slams ‘American Idol’: ‘Where Is Simon When You Need Him?’

Season 2 runner-up blasts singing competition’s new judges and their “boring ass” critiques compared to Simon Cowell

Clay Aiken
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“American Idol’s” final season premiered Wednesday night on Fox, and one person wasn’t entertained: Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken.

“Watching @americanidol for the first time in a decade. You never know what you’ve got til it’s gone,” Aiken said in the first of a series of tweets making fun of the show as it began its 15th and last season.

“Well… now I know why the ratings are down,” he wrote in another tweet.

The former contestant placed second to Ruben Suddard on the Fox singing competition show in 2003 before going on to place second on “The Celebrity Apprentice” Season 5 and making an unsuccessful bid as a Democrat for U.S. Congress in his home state of North Carolina in 2014.

Aiken seemed to place the bulk of the blame for the current version of the show on new judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr.

“Oh good Lord… those boring ass responses from the judges!?” the 37-year-old wrote in another tweet. “Where is Simon when you need him!?”

“It’s VERY clear now that @SimonCowell was the reason @AmericanIdol was a hit,” he wrote. “I’ve watched root canals more entertaining than these judges.”

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