Cue the confetti! And the shock waves! Your new “American Idol” is David Cook. In a bit of an upset, the genial 25-year-old rocker from Blue Springs, Mo., piled up enough viewer votes to slip past presumptive winner David Archuleta last night to become the seventh winner of the Fox-TV singing contest.
One of only four finalists to play an instrument during performances, the former bartender became an audience favorite after putting a rock twist on Lionel Richie's “Hello” and Michael Jackson's “Billie Jean.” His electric guitar was emblazoned with the initials “A.C.” for his brother Adam, who is battling cancer.
Cook wins a contract with Sony-BMG records. He will be joining his fellow Top 10 finalists when the “American Idol” tour stops at the San Diego Sports Arena on July 2.
– Karla Peterson
BOY-BAND MOGUL SENTENCED
Lou Pearlman, the man who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, was sentenced in Orlando, Fla., yesterday to 25 years in federal prison for engineering a decades-long scam that bilked thousands of investors out of their life savings.
It was the maximum sentence the boy-band mogul could receive for allegedly swindling some $300 million from investors and banks since the early 1980s.
He pleaded guilty in March to two counts of conspiracy and single counts of money laundering and presenting a false claim in bankruptcy court.
U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp noted that many victims were Pearlman's relatives, friends and retirees in their 70s or 80s who lost everything. However, the judge said he would reduce Pearlman's sentence by one month for every $1 million returned to investors.
LEE CRITICIZES EASTWOOD
Spike Lee is slamming Clint Eastwood over his two recent Iwo Jima movies, saying the filmmaker overlooked the role of black soldiers during World War II.
Lee – whose next film is this fall's “Miracle at St. Anna,” the story of an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during the war – said Eastwood's 2006 movies “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” were whites-only affairs.
“He did two films about Iwo Jima back to back and there was not one black soldier in both of those films,” Lee said at the Cannes Film Festival.
“Many veterans, African-Americans, who survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood. In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist. Simple as that. I have a different version,” Lee said.
Eastwood was in Cannes for his missing-child drama “Changeling,” starring Angelina Jolie. At a news conference for the film, a reporter tried to ask for his reaction to Lee's criticism, but the moderator cut her off and told journalists to limit questions to Eastwood's own movie.
ALBA TIES THE KNOT
Sorry, guys. Jessica Alba's “taken” status is legal.
The 27-year-old actress quietly wed producer Cash Warren on Monday, her publicist, Brad Cafarelli, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Cafarelli didn't give further details.
The pair became engaged in late December following Alba's announcement that she's expecting a baby with Warren, 31.
– COMPILED FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
