Editing Corey Clark (section)

====Relationship with Paula Abdul====
Two years later, Clark began making allegations about his relationship with Abdul.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steamy-american-idol-allegations/ "Steamy 'American Idol' Allegations" Ex-Contestant Corey Clark Claims He Had Affair With Paula Abdul]; CBS.com; May 5, 2005</ref><ref>Walls, Jeannette. [https://www.today.com/popculture/ex-idol-contestant-claims-abdul-affair-wbna7591639 "Ex-‘Idol’ contestant claims Abdul affair"]; MSNBC.com; April 28, 2005</ref> Clark stated in his E-book, ''They Told Me to Tell the Truth, So...: The Sex, Lies and Paulatics of One of America's Idols'',{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} and in a May 2005 interview with ''[[Primetime Live]]'' that ''Idol'' judge [[Paula Abdul]] took him under her wing, beginning on December 12, 2002, and coached him on how to succeed in the competition, including helping him select the right songs, clothes, and hairstyle, in order to avoid the show's "exploitation" of young hopefuls' careers like himself,<ref>[https://www.today.com/popculture/clark-wont-help-idol-verify-his-claims-wbna7740986 “Clark won’t help ‘Idol’ verify his claims”]; MSNBC.com/AP; May 5, 2005</ref> and that this mentorship developed into a three-month-long sexual relationship.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGUUWaMRRYw&mode=related&search= Segment of "Fallen Idol"], Primetime Live's May 4, 2005 story on the scandal, from YouTube (Part 2 of 5).</ref>

Clark provided, as evidence of his relationship with Paula Abdul, a message that Abdul left on his voice mail, multiple eyewitness accounts of Clark and Abdul being intimate together in public places, accounts by Clark's parents of Abdul calling their home looking for Clark, a bottle of prescription strength cough medicine prescribed to Abdul in Clark's possession, and phone records of Abdul and Clark speaking to each other for several hours at a time during late night hours. Abdul dismissed Clark's claims as lies, saying that she would not "dignify Clark's claims with a response", explaining, "Not only do I never lie, I never respond to lies".<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Entertainment/story?id=701186&page=1 “An Illicit Affair on 'American Idol'?: Ex-Contestant Says He Got Coaching From, Had Relationship With, Judge Paula Abdul”]; ABCNews.go.com; May 3, 2005</ref><ref>[http://www.livedaily.com/news/Briefly_James_Brown_Scott_Weiland_Paula_Abdul_Mindy_McCready-8123.html "Briefly: James Brown, Scott Weiland, Paula Abdul, Mindy McCready"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070125173632/http://www.livedaily.com/news/Briefly_James_Brown_Scott_Weiland_Paula_Abdul_Mindy_McCready-8123.html |date=2007-01-25 }}, LiveDaily.com story on Abdul's response to the ''Primetime Live'' story; May 6, 2005</ref> The show's other judges and some of the show's former contestants also expressed disbelief of Clark's claims, which Clark saw as an attempt by Abdul, the show, and the network to cover up the matter.

''Idol'' producer [[Nigel Lythgoe]], who was unimpressed with the evidence presented, called it "shoddy journalism".  Regarding Clark's possession of Abdul's phone number, Lythgoe said, "And I know for a fact that a lot of the contestants have got Paula's phone number and contact her and she contacts them. Paula's the den mother. ... I don't have a problem with that. She's been a star and now she can help them and that's more than Simon [Cowell]." Lythgoe also addressed Clark's claim that he sent Abdul a secret message by singing "I owe it all to you" on the show by explaining that the serenade was choreographed by the producers.  Lythgoe also questioned why it took two years for Clark to reveal his alleged affair with Abdul, fueling speculation that Clark was merely attempting to gain publicity for his upcoming album.<ref>Moss, Corey. [https://web.archive.org/web/20050508013650/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1501383/20050505/abdul_paula.jhtml "'Idol' Producer Calls 'Primetime' Special 'Shoddy Journalism'"]; MTV.com; May 6, 2005</ref>

Clark denies that the timing of his revelation was part of a marketing ploy, asserting, "If I wanted publicity, I could have done it two years ago when they were first trying to defame my name." Clark states that Abdul and the producers engaged in a character assassination campaign that he could not afford to combat or ignore, and accused them of spreading falsehoods about him throughout the industry in order to ruin his career.<ref>Harris; May 6, 2005</ref> Other former contestants who came to publicly back Clark's claims included second season semi-finalist Nasheka Sidall, who, it was stated on ''Primetime Live,'' first heard "whispers" about the affair soon after her time on the show as a contestant,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Q1Gszjwyc Segment of "Fallen Idol", Primetime Live's May 4, 2005 story on the scandal, from YouTube (Part 4 of 5).]</ref> and fellow second season finalist [[Trenyce]], who corroborated Clark's claims on ''[[Showbiz Tonight]]''.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/29/sbt.01.html CNN.com transcript of an CNN’s Showbiz Tonight’s interview with Clark]</ref> Clark also points to the fact in his e-book that his ''Idol'' roommates, Ricky Smith and [[Ruben Studdard]], were never asked for their views on the validity of his claims,<ref>Moss, Corey. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071016194635/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1505023/20050630/clark_corey.jhtml "Corey Clark Meeting With 'Idol' Producers Over Paula Flap"]; MTV.com; June 30, 2005</ref> but that [[American Idol (season 3)|third season]] winner [[Fantasia Barrino]] was questioned as to her opinion about Clark's allegations, which Clark saw as an attempt by Fox or its investigators to use Barrino's following to bias the public against Clark. As Clark states:

{{cquote|All I have to say about it is that I have neither personally met Fantasia Barrino, nor have I ever competed against her on the same season of ''Idol'', so there is no way that she could have accurately given a description to anybody, publicly or personally, about my or Paula's actions during my time as a contestant on ''American Idol''.<ref>Clark; 2005; Page 142.</ref>}}

In August 2005, after an internal investigation by an independent counsel appointed by Fox, which included interviews with Abdul, Clark and other witnesses, the investigators concluded that Clark's claims of a sexual relationship "have not been substantiated by any corroborating evidence or witnesses, including those provided by Mr. Clark, and Ms. Abdul expressly denies that any such relationship ever existed." The investigators further added that "Ms. Abdul acknowledges that she had telephone conversations with Mr. Clark while he was a contestant. Their accounts of those conversations, however, differ greatly and no evidence was uncovered to resolve the conflicts in their accounts."<ref>[http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/entertainment&id=3343548 "Paula Abdul to Remain an 'Idol' Judge"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805135139/http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news%2Fentertainment&id=3343548 |date=2012-08-05 }}; 6ABC.com; August 13, 2005</ref> The network announced that Abdul could continue her judging duties on future seasons of ''American Idol'',<ref>[https://www.today.com/popculture/after-probe-paula-abdul-remain-idol-wbna8931265 "After probe, Paula Abdul to remain on ‘Idol’: Fox finds no proof of impropriety after ex-contestant alleged affair"]; MSNBC.com/Associated Press; August 24, 2005</ref> adding, "The line is whether it affects the outcome of the competition....It is the sanctity of the competition that is first and foremost."<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/news/sb/2005-07-29 "Paula Under Investigation by an "Independent Counsel"]; July 29, 2005</ref><ref>[http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur22649.cfm "Abdul Stiff-Arms Corey Clark Questions: ‘American Idol’ judges face reporters during audition stop in San Fran."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195918/http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur22649.cfm |date=2007-09-27 }}; EURweb.com September 30, 2005</ref>

In the [[American Idol (season 4)|fourth season]] finale of ''American Idol'', there was a [[parody]] of Clark's claims, in which judge [[Simon Cowell]] was alleged to be having an affair with himself. The parody was very close in plot to the ''Primetime Live'' story. Clark released a statement that the parody offended him, and was an "insult to the intelligence of the viewer".<ref>[https://www.today.com/popculture/corey-clark-didn-t-idol-spoof-wbna7994576 “Corey Clark didn't like 'Idol' spoof: Finale poked fun at former contestant’s allegations"]; MSNBC.com/Associated Press; May 26, 2005</ref>