Awful American Idol Auditions That Made People Famous

"American Idol" began its still-ongoing run back in 2002, grabbing pop culture by the face and not letting go since. Sure, it's in no way a perfect vehicle for discovering new talent, and some might even rattle off reasons why American Idol is outright fake — but every year, thousands of golden-voiced hopefuls line up in hopes of blowing the doors off of every music consumer in the land. From the onset, though, the show's producers keyed in two important facts: that among those hopefuls are plenty whose voices are made of whatever the opposite of gold is, and that the doors of the public are just as likely to be blown off by them.

Bad auditions have always been part of the show's appeal, though the emphasis on them has waned in recent years. While every "Idol" contestant yearns to achieve fame, a select few have done so by being appalling talent vacuums; ridiculously tone-deaf, excruciatingly awkward, enthusiastically weird, or all of the above. Here are the would-be Idols who earned their brief time in the limelight by marching into that audition room, heads held high, and stinking up the joint to an implausible degree.

When Keith Beukelaer sauntered onto the "American Idol" audition stage in Season 2, the mild-mannered, soft-spoken young man gave no hint of what was to come. He proclaimed himself to be "very entertaining and unique," and that was saying a mouthful. After a brief round of questions from Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson (Paula Abdul was, fortunately for her, MIA that day), Beukelaer launched into his rendition of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" — a baby-voiced, tuneless, disturbingly sultry rendition accompanied by Elaine Benes-worthy dance moves.

Somehow remaining stone-faced, Cowell asked Beukelaer to give him another song, to which he responded with Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" sung in the exact same fashion with identical slinky-but-twitchy dance accompaniment. After the performance mercifully concluded, Cowell bestowed upon Beukelaer the title of "the worst singer in the world," while Jackson deadpanned in his inimitable fashion, "Keith, that was horrific, man." Beukelaer seemed genuinely perplexed as to what went wrong in his post-audition interview with Ryan Seacrest. 

Unbelievably, he resurfaced a full decade later in front of Cowell, this time on "The X-Factor," performing the classic tune "Baby Got Back" (if you ever wondered what happened to Sir Mix-A-Lot, we can at least say with certainty that he didn't endorse this performance). This time, the judges unanimously, inexplicably voted him through, but alas, he was eliminated before making it to the show's boot camp.

Every so often during the early years of "Idol," producers would allow contestants who had no shot under the rules to audition anyway, just for grins. Such was the case with Larry Platt, who at 62 years old was just a wee bit beyond the age cutoff when he appeared on "American Idol" Season 9. One of the things many history teachers overlook about the Civil Rights Movement is that there were many unsung heroes working alongside the iconic figures, and Platt had earned his nickname, "General," while organizing marches and sit-ins during that time. The air he carried with him was indeed one of authority. Platt performed an original tune titled "Pants On the Ground," a half-shouted rap taking to task those young men who enjoy sagging their pants.

Platt's spirited performance had every judge in stitches with the exception of Simon Cowell, who merely cracked the slightest hint of a smile. While the rest of the judges composed themselves, Cowell said, "I have a horrible feeling that song is going to be a hit," and Randy Jackson declared his intent to immediately buy more belts. Cowell let Platt in on the bad news about the age limit, and Platt was a good sport (about that, and all the laughter). For his parting shot, though, Cowell expressed his doubt that they'd seen the last of Platt — and right he was. Platt appeared briefly on the season finale, and his tune was recorded and released to MP3, clocking up a quarter-million downloads, while the audition has over 10 million views on YouTube.

Another contestant whose age prevented him from advancing, Renaldo Lapuz was 44 when he hit the Idol stage during the Season 7 auditions. Decked out in a white, fluffy, flamboyantly styled outfit, he performed an original tune entitled "We're Brothers Forever." Suffice it to say that the lyrics impart one key idea — that Lapuz is the listener's brother and best friend, forever and ever, until the end of time — repeatedly. Incessantly, one might say.

Lapuz's enthusiastic performance got Paula Abdul on her feet and Randy Jackson rocking right along with his arm slung around the singer; even Ryan Seacrest was called in to witness the grand spectacle. Simon Cowell, of course, was the one to deliver the bad news that Lapuz would not make the cut, cushioning it slightly with "I actually like you, but it's going to be no." The relentlessly upbeat Lapuz continued to sling sunshine on his way out the door, saying, "Simon, you are a great person ... Even if there are many people who throw you negative words, there are many people who like and admire you." 

The singer made a triumphant return for the season finale, during which he belted out his tune for an attending audience of thousands, accompanied by the USC marching band; in 2010, he self-released an album, "Christmas Chocolatee" (yes, that is the correct spelling) while working at Wal-Mart. "Although I'm just a janitor, fans hug me and take my pictures," he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that year. "My photo hangs on the wall of the manager's office, as if I'm a VIP."

There are certain singers and songs that "American Idol" contestants must be either highly confident or completely deluded to tackle. The late, great Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury is one of those singers, and the band's signature tune "Bohemian Rhapsody" is one of those songs. When Steven Thoen took a crack at the song during the audition round of Season 6, it quickly became apparent which side of that scale he was going to land on. The moment his strained, halting falsetto began creeping hesitantly from his mouth, the judges could barely stifle their laughter; after he concluded, Simon Cowell called it the weirdest audition he had ever heard, equating Thoen's vocal style to "a one-year-old singing."

After a brief argument with Cowell during which he challenged the judge to coach him ("It'd be like coaching a one-legged man to win the hundred-meter sprint," Cowell deadpanned), Thoen headed out the door to vent to Ryan Seacrest. Shortly after the episode aired, the Superior Telegram — the local paper in Thoen's hometown of Superior, Wisconsin — ran a piece in which Thoen's mother, June Lorimor, took the producers to task for allowing her son anywhere near the "Idol" stage. "My son can't carry a tune," Lorimor said. "My son should have never been on there. I don't have a clue why he decided [to] go on 'American Idol.'"

Many failed "American Idol" contestants become belligerent with the judges, most of them claiming that said judges must not know anything about singing, despite the fact that they are all music industry veterans who are literally making millions to judge the most high-profile singing competition on Earth. Such was the case with Jennifer "The Hotness" Chapton, a Season 6 contestant whose off-key, vocal fry-laden, horrifyingly cringeworthy performance of "Baby I" by the girl group Tenderoni raised the ire of Simon Cowell. "The song was all over the place, you were all over the place," Cowell said. "It was a terrible audition." The Hotness took issue.

Chapton began insisting that Cowell knew nothing about music and that his opinion didn't matter, which is an odd position to take with somebody whose opinion determines whether you advance in a nationwide singing contest. Cowell advised her to "get a job down at the port," whatever that means, prompting Chapton to once again burst into song while all three judges begged her to stop. Chapton finally stalked resignedly out the door; Cowell joked to his fellow judges that this was a shame, as he had been on the verge of saying yes.

Young Sophie Powers is already beginning to make a name for herself in the music biz; she has a ginormous social media following, and as of this writing she's set to make appearances at some major music festivals in the U.S. and U.K. During her audition for "Idol" Season 23, she announced she would be performing an original tune which she described as a "tearjerker." She then dropped a lively, uptempo beat and proceeded to deliver a flat, monotone rap entitled "Shut the F*** Up."

Powers began the tune by waxing poetic about her pet lizard George, which she gave to her mother. She then lamented that people bother her and that she doesn't like her job, before launching into an extensive list of everybody and everything that she feels should heed the advice of the song's title; Karens, vegans, babies, laundry, war, dinosaurs, traffic, people, groceries, and finally, everyone. The flabbergasted judges had to admit that she certainly had her schtick dialed in, but Carrie Underwood spoke for them all when she opined that she didn't know how Powers could fit in with American Idol. Powers' response was pure gold: "Yeah, neither do I, I'm literally Canadian." 

Powers' Idol appearance seems to have pretty much been a lark; shortly after her appearance, her single "Nosebleed" was released on Atlantic Records, and her track "Move With Me" has been hailed in the press as a sonically interesting work that's quite far removed from the profane silliness of her audition.

When Trista Giese took the audition stage in Season 6, she was nothing if not dedicated to her gimmick. Not that said gimmick was particularly helpful to her cause; rather than a pop tune, she chose to sing "If I Were the King of the Forest," a song that appears in the classic film "The Wizard of Oz." That's an odd choice, but Giese ratcheted up the oddity by singing the tune in the style of the Cowardly Lion, and while that Wizard of Oz character has an interesting meaning, it has nothing to do with televised singing competitions. Going all in, she punctuated her warbling, off-key rendition with a series of lion-esque growls.

It was a performance that momentarily rendered Simon Cowell stunned beyond the capacity for speech, but he eventually blurted out, "What am I supposed to say?" As Giese attempted to explain her "unique" vocal qualities, Cowell's brain reluctantly kicked into gear: "It was one of the strangest auditions I've ever heard in my life," he stammered. Giese quickly exited stage left, but would go on to online infamy as "Chewbacca Girl." In 2018, Giese and a slew of other former Idol hopefuls gamely sent themselves up by appearing on Jimmy Kimmel's show performing a "We Are The World"-style tune of sublime self-mockery.

Leroy Wells arrived to the Season 4 auditions as a livewire ball of energy, nearly skipping straight out of the studio, then beginning his performance before even telling the judges his name. Could he sing? It was tough to tell; he spent the vast majority of his time onstage exhorting the judges to "feel him," "get crunk," and "put Jesus first," in between falling into snatches of the chorus from ODB's hit "Got Ya Money." Was that his performance? Again, tough to tell.

Randy Jackson managed to rein in Wells' elemental force long enough to encourage him to try singing some James Brown, which to Jackson's credit may have been the only vocalist to even come close to the contestant's wheelhouse. Alas, his stab at the Godfather of Soul's "I Feel Good" failed to impress (it may have been his insistence on scatting his way through the horn parts), and he was sent packing with a succinct assessment from Simon Cowell: "It's just ridiculous. I couldn't understand a word you were saying." Wells would later achieve some notoriety for a much different type of crime against music: in 2021, he got into legal hot water for wounding two men in a shooting outside of a recording studio.

Season 6 contestant Martik Manoukian goes by the moniker "Eccentric," and that is absolutely one way to describe him. Before beginning his performance of his original tune "Sweetest Princess," he psyched himself up and creeped the judges out by stripping half-naked, stalking toward the judges' table like a jungle cat, and prowling around the stage doing jerky dance moves while making swiping motions to complement his (admittedly quite good) panther sounds.

Upon being urged by Simon Cowell to "get on with the singing," he did, and Cowell may have wished he'd kept his mouth shut. Manoukian's bizarre, staccato vocal style and squeaky voice left the judges' jaws on the floor for all the wrong reasons, and his insistence on continuing to inject jungle cat sounds into his performance didn't help them to take him seriously. When he finished, Cowell voiced the query on the minds of every viewer at home: "What. The Hell. Was that?!" While his fellow judges chuckled, he then succinctly broke down his opinion, saying, "The buildup was horrific, the outfit was horrific, the meowing was ridiculous, and the singing was horrendous." Without missing a beat, Randy Jackson deadpanned, "So Simon, is it a yes or a no?" It was a no, of course, but Manoukian was undeterred. 

Speaking with Ryan Seacrest, he said, "I might be blowing up as big as Michael Jackson. Maybe bigger." Well, not quite. In 2015, Manoukian wrote and starred in a short film titled "Sayenesha" with actress Keesha Sharp; the Persian-language short apparently failed to attract any eyeballs, investors, or attention of any sort.

James Lewis appeared on the Season 7 audition stage brimming with confidence, and his choice of tune was an interesting one: the gospel standard "Go Down Moses." The judges seemed primed for a unique performance, and they got one; Lewis threw himself into the tune with gusto, sporting a singularly weird, droning baritone complete with a style of enunciation and inflection that one might imagine coming from an alien attempting to mimic human speech.

While Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul covered their faces to hide their snickering, Simon Cowell stared, completely fascinated, until the end of the performance. When it was over, Jackson and Abdul simply failed to compose themselves; Cowell actually apologized for them, but swiftly batted down Lewis' suggestion that he sing something else. Finally getting hold of himself, Jackson opened his mouth to offer a critique — but then, Lewis broke into song again, destroying the judges' fragile composure (except Cowell, who continued to look on stone-faced as if he were watching somebody paint the wall). 

Amazingly, Lewis went on to a brief acting career, even appearing in a 2009 feature with Mickey Rooney, whose life and career are the stuff of legend; said feature, however, was a microbudget Lone Ranger spoof by the unfortunate title of "Saddle Up With Dick Wrangler and Injun Joe."

A Season 7 contestant, Douglas Davidson prefaced his audition by doing a brief series of exceedingly odd vocal warm-ups that did not bode well for what was to come. Indeed, when he finally launched into his rendition of Bon Jovi's "Livin' On a Prayer," the warm-up appeared not to have helped. While his singing certainly had the requisite volume, it was remarkably tuneless, with Davidson heartily belting out the tune in a near-monotone.

When he finished, Davidson acknowledged he had been "rough on that note," raising the question of exactly which note he was talking about. ("About 20, 30 notes on that one was rough, yeah," Randy Jackson said helpfully.) Rather than concede defeat, though, Davidson began his weird warm-up routine again before bursting into another song which the judges couldn't quite identify. "Douglas," Simon Cowell interjected, "I don't want to hear any more of this stupidity." Tough luck, Simon; Davidson began alternating between arguing with the judges and more attempts at the Bon Jovi tune, continuing to holler atonally even as "Idol" staffers physically removed him. 

Davidson's vocal stylings can still be found online, on a super-smoking hot bastion of social activity, in case you were wondering whatever happened to MySpace. On his page are three of his cover tunes, including "Sober," originally performed by inaugural "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson.

There are terrible "American Idol" auditions, and then there is the one turned in by Los Angeles resident William Hung during the audition round of Season 3, perhaps the only such audition to make a failed contestant a household name. Hung's stilted, awkward, off-key rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" is the stuff of legend; the young man walked out with his head held high even after a verbal tarring and feathering by Simon Cowell, and perhaps it was his energetic vibe and sunny attitude that propelled him to unlikely stardom.

Hung's audition simply exploded across the pop culture landscape, with "Saturday Night Live" parodies and talk show appearances. There was even — and perhaps inevitably — a contract with small label Koch Records, for which he recorded the LPs "Inspiration," "Hung For the Holidays," and "Miracle: Happy Summer From William Hung" between 2004 and 2005. Hung understood full well the nature of his brief time in the spotlight, but he refused to just be a punchline, preferring instead to see himself as an example for people who may not have all the talent in the world, but simply want to have a good time. In a 2024 interview with NBC News, he said, "I feel that everyone has a right to try something new without being judged or ridiculed. It's OK for people to enjoy themselves."