exposed...literally

Strip club: 'Idol' once danced here By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer
2 hours, 1 minute ago



LOS ANGELES - "American Idol" contestant David Hernandez once entertained audiences by removing his clothes instead of singing tunes, a manager at a male strip club in Phoenix told The Associated Press.




The 24-year-old finalist from Glendale, Ariz., once worked as a stripper at Dick's Cabaret, appearing fully nude and performing lap dances for the club's "mostly male" clientele, club manager Gordy Bryan said Monday.

"He had the look and the type that people like, so he made pretty good money here," Bryan said.

It's not clear whether a history as a stripper could disqualify Hernandez from the competition. In 2003, finalist Frenchie Davis was dismissed because of her appearance on an adult Web site; but last year, Antonella Barba remained in the competition after racy photos of her surfaced on the Internet.

Fox spokeswomen Jill Hudson did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment Monday.

According to Bryan, Hernandez steadily worked at the club for three years until September 30, 2007.

"He never renewed his licensing with the state, so he hasn't been on my roster since then," Bryan said.

Bryan said he was aware that Hernandez was a vocalist, but that Hernandez never sang at the club. Bryan said he now believes Hernandez stopped working at the club because of his participation in "American Idol." Hernandez has never been referred to as a stripper or former stripper during the Fox singing competition.

Rumors of a stripper past — along with photos of a scantily clad Hernandez working as a bartender at gay nightclub Burn — were first posted last week on VoteForTheWorst.com, a site that encourages "Idol" viewers to vote for "the bad and truly entertaining contestants."

"It was like moths to a flame," said VoteForTheWorst.com founder Dave Della Terza. "As soon as I posted that, we started getting 10, 20 letters every single day from people saying, 'Yeah, he's a stripper in Phoenix.'"

Terza and other members of VoteForTheWorst.com community scoured MySpace, Photobucket and other social networking and photo sharing sites to find information and images of Hernandez. Terza said he contacted the club to confirm the Internet chatter, but they never got back to him.

"They said they couldn't give me a statement before talking to their lawyers," said Terza.

Hernandez, who originally auditioned for "Idol" in San Diego on July 30, 2007, is in the Fox singing competition's top 16 contestants. Last week, he earned rave reviews from the judges after his performance of The Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." He is scheduled to perform with the other male contestants on Tuesday's show.

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[Edited 3/4/08 4:41am]

Good for him!

HamsterHuey said:

ellieadore said:

Well hello. Do send me your avatar, damnit.

He's hot

they make no apology for dissin' Frenchie like the did

Go David, go David!

Rhondab said:

No they didn't, did they?

He's a fine motherfucker! I'd let him do me real quick! It helps that brother can blow on the mic too! I will vote for him tonight!!!!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

American Idol is guilty of double standard.

Has he come out?

I knew a straight guy that stripped at gay events along with his girlfriend in the bay area. Just because he strips for gay guys doesn't mean he's gay. I'm sure there's a high probability that he is though.

Don't find him attractive in the slightest but I am not surprised that he did this kind of work. He's got that look.

Rhondab said:

Amazing, ain't it?

JustErin said:

explain that

ehuffnsd said:

A striper look. He looks like the kind of dudes I have met that are strippers.

They all kinda look the same - cookie cutter.

This guy can actually sing! IMO.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I don't believe that.....

Graycap23 said:

it's possible.

matthewgrant said:

Your avatar

good for him. he should embrace that shit instead of trying to downplay it. he wants to be a pop star, not the freakin president. pop stars can be strippers, drug addicts, kleptos, whatever they want. it just makes them sexier. he would totally be the first-ever AI contestant i've ever respected if he took responsibility for his past and publicly stated he wasn't ashamed of it. but he won't. so thankfully, i won't have to watch that shit for yet another season.

theodore said:

Thank you.
[Edited 3/4/08 20:16pm]

Rhondab said:

I liked Frenchie, and was upset when she got booted off.

psychodelicide said:

I was livid!!!!!

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I was too. She was the best singer that year. She's been doing great out here in NYC with Rent, which I must see before it closes.

matthewgrant said:

yw

he needs to sing with his shirt off!

newpower99 said:

You ain't lying!

there's a story on yahoo news with the headline "is america ready for a gay idol???"

as if there hasn't already been at LEAST one???

Not even we in the UK cared about Chico's stripper past a few years back. And we are nearly as conservative as you guys in the US