Ashley Dupre, nee Youmans, age 22, $4300.00.
David Hernandez, age 24, $40.00.
That's a BIG margin. But the entertainment Ms. Dupre offered compared to the "lap dance" offered by stripper-turned-singer Hernandez have had, at least in the short term for them, the same staggering effect.
Sexual paranoia has reared its filthy, persistant head again. A bright, powerful, very possible political hope has been crushed this week because of a liaison in a Washington hotel suite with Dupre. The ethics in question are up for debate and very personal. The "victimless" aspect of prostitution has intelligent arguments both pro and con. The trafficking of anyone against their will is egregious and must be stopped. Consensual sex between adults, even if one is benefitting financially? I am so totally okay with that.
But Ms. Youmans will be now, regardless of whatever she achieves in her future, cast under the same shadow that accompanies Monica Lewinsky and Vanessa Williams. Case in point: Williams lost her Miss America title more than twenty years ago when nude, lesbian themed pictures of her pre-crown were published. Yet it was the thrust just two weeks ago of a Barbara Walters interview. It is still an issue.
As for Mr. Hernandez? Two weeks ago he was a front runner for the title of this years American Idol. Then photos and stories hit the internet about his employment at primarily gay establishments in Phoenix as bartender (confirmed), stripper (confirmed), lap dancer (confirmed) and call boy (unconfirmed). Hernandez has been mum, but the man who blew the roof off two weeks ago with "Poppa Was a Rolling Stone" almost came undone on Tuesday with a frantic, desperately hetero rendition of "I Saw Her Standing There". He was summarily sent packing last night.
Was he the worst this week? No. Is he the victim of bad press backlash? Definitely. That backlash reacts to information that is salacious because it is sexual, and especially so because Hernandez's clientele was gay.
Last week the American public sent home an Idol contestant who was far from the worst singer (in fact, he was pretty good). What he was was a flaming queen and America cannot have that. The butcher Hernandez was a fave until his gay or at least gay-for-pay past cropped up. Then the door.
Sylvia said "We have come so far and we have so far to go".
Amen sister.
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