Idol Judge Lashes Back At Broken Social Scene

The most outspoken Canadian Idol judge has lashed out at indie rock darlings Broken Social Scene for comments the band made about Idol competitors.

"There's just no point in shitting on these kids for being afforded an opportunity based on winning a contest that is chosen by the people," says Zack Werner. "I just don't get it.

"It's not like we took a guy from Broken Social Scene and forced him to be in fuckin' Idol."

Bad blood has been building between the Idol family and the Scenesters since the Juno Awards in Halifax earlier this month. During a Juno press conference to discuss their band's win for alternative album of the year, Social Scene lead singer Kevin Drew said, "I feel really sorry for those kids in Canadian Idol because they're going absolutely nowhere."

He then added, "It's a Canadian music industry downfall because in three years no one is going to remember them."

For the benefit of Toronto journalists and radio and television personalities who gathered for the Media Idol competition on Thursday morning, Werner and fellow judges Sass Jordan and Jake Gold pointedly discussed how "flat" Drew's vocals were during BSS' televised performance at the Junos. In a later interview, Werner compared Drew unfavourably to baseball-capped Idol alumni, Rex Goudie.

"Yeah, well, how many records have they sold, honestly?" Werner asked. "I don't know if they did or they didn't go gold, but I know that Rex Goudie sold 21,000 tickets in St. John's himself over the course of three concerts.

"I'll bet you that if the guy from Broken Social Scene took a nice shit in St. John's, he couldn't attract any flies to it."

It can be reasonably safe to say that Drew's claims are correct about early Idol contenders like Ryan Malcolm, Billy Klippert and Gary Beals having had their day in the sun already. However, Werner believes that Goudie's workmanlike persona, Theresa Sokyrka's evolution into a Kathleen Edwards/Sarah Harmer-alike and Kalan Porter's fanatical followers could propel all three of them to lasting careers.

"There's no cross between the [BSS and Idol] audiences and I don't understand why someone should begrudge someone the opportunity to make a living," says Werner."'I feel sorry for them?' Yeah, feel sorry for them. Fuckin' Rex Goudie was training to be a mechanic in his dad's shop in St. John's and now he's had a couple years of a glorious ride that he'd have not had otherwise were it not for this opportunity. Save the fuckin' sympathy.

"I think it's just pettiness of 'I had to struggle in the basement for 20 years, therefore I'm more deserving in some manner of fashion.'"

The final chance to audition for the 2006 edition of Canadian Idol happens on Saturday at Toronto's Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre.