he appeared to be upset. When asked Alexander responded "This sucks, we've got two of the best vocalists, my best friend [Joey Cook] sitting over there. This whole thing is whack, but I'm going to shut up right now." Seacrest then replied saying that this is a competition, and with the save anything could happen. When Alexander had left the stage, Connick Jr. said, "Quentin, if it's that whack, then you can always go home, because Idol is paying a lot of money to give you this experience and for you to say that to this hand that is feeding you right now, I think is highly disrespectful." Alexander was then prompted by the producers to return to the stage where he approached the judges and clarified he meant the two being potentially eliminated was whack, not the show, or the experience. Later, after performing his second song, he explained "I understand that these things are going to happen, and I just didn't want my friend to leave" and apologized. Judge Jennifer Lopez empathized with Alexander's emotions running high but said that as an artist he had to learn to work through that even when it happens to put on the performance. Joey Cook commented after being eliminated on Alexander's statements: I pretty much just told him what he did was beautiful, in my opinion, and it was the perfect representation of him. Quentin is a very emotional person. He's very 'all cards on the table.' There is no sugar coating. He doesn't hide his emotions. He's honest. He's a raw human being, and I think what happened last night was the perfect example of that and how emotional of a person he is. American Idol played up the exchange in a promotional spot aired on the same channel and confirmed they will replay the incident at the beginning of the Top 5 show as part of the recap of the previous week. An AI source also stated that for fairness purposes the judges and contestants have a strict wall of silence between them and only interact onstage so Connick Jr. and Alexander have not had contact since last week. Alexander was eliminated the next show the following week with what Music Times questioned as possibly the first time American Idol "went into an episode with what seemed to be a very clear agenda." References External links Federal Trade Commission's