Rumors of American Idol finalist Anwar Robinson's sexual orientation have been circling for awhile, but a quick search of African American community site BlackPlanet.com's personal ads for men-seeking-men in New Jersey should help clarify the issue: Anwar Robinson, clearly identifiable from photos (the same photos which have also been used on a few of his fan sites), lists in his profile that he is a man seeking a man.
Early on in the fourth season of the popular reality series, which premiered January 18th, judge Paula Abdul declared that Robinson had “the best vocal technique in this competition,” and judge Randy Jackson praised him for giving “the best performance of the whole competition” when he sang “What a Wonderful World.” But his latest performance of Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" drew more tepid praise from the judges, with Simon calling it lazy and inconsistent, and Randy describing it as not his best.
Still, Robinson had made it to the top 10, and remains a favorite among fans and bookies. "Anwar Robinson, who performed a flawless rendition of 'A House is Not A Home' by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, is the favorite to win among nearly all internet sports betting firms," commented Thomas Jensen, Marketing Director for Sports911.com in a recent press release. "But he's also far from a lock."
BlackPlanet.com indicates that Robinson's last login was January 1, 2005, before American Idol even began auditions for its fourth season. No one knew at that time that the schoolteacher from East Orange, New Jersey would become one of the finalists on the popular Fox reality series, which makes it unlikely to be a fake profile set up by a fan (or detractor) of the popular singer. It also raises questions around why Robinson did not remove his profile once he was selected to be on the show, given the intense scrutiny he knew he was going to receive as a contestant on a show watched by over 20 million Americans each week.
The most likely answer is that, despite rumblings that Fox prefers to keep AI's gay contestants closeted, at least during the competition (one finalist from Season 1, Jim Verraros, came out after the series ended), Robinson himself is not that closeted in real life. Sources tell us that the singer has been openly gay since high school, and even now does not go out of his way to hide his sexuality, which this personal ad would seem to confirm.
Robinson did not address his sexual orientation in his official Fox bio, however, and contestants are not allowed to talk to the press until after they have been eliminated from the competition, so Robinson has not yet been given an opportunity to set the record straight himself. If he doesn't make the cut in tonight's elimination round, he may find he has that chance sooner than he would like.
http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2005/3/robinson.html
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