Ben Mulroney: tell it like it is - there's nothing wrong with it!

I can't believe a column in today's Ottawa Citizen. On page D6 Eric Kohanik blasts Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney for "whining on camera" last week when he disagreed with that week's results. The judges were flabbergasted and expressed their shock at "Canada's vote" and followed up on Ben's comments before the program faded to black.

The column goes on to explain how viewer participation has yielded questionable results on a number of occasions on American Idol in the past and that producers and hosts of such programs should strive to remain impartial. In other words, Mulroney was out of line when he expressed his thoughts on live television without censoring himself.

Kohanik must have missed the moment where the Canadian Idol host was going to "do what he was supposed to do" and utter one platitude or another regarding the results before moving on to delivering the teaser about the coming week. Mulroney, who according to the column's author is a host who lacks "seasoned broadcasting professionalism", stopped short and took back words to the effect that he did not know what to say. He continued, said he did know what to say and then said it. Good on him.

To Eric Kohanik I say: it takes a "seasoned broadcasting professional" to have the intestinal fortitude to buck the politically correct "never speak your mind or say anything that anything but mainstream" trend and actually tell it like it is for once. It takes someone with balls to stand up and speak from the heart... something we've been conditioned in recent years to squelch.

Ben Mulroney may have his detractors, and I can't say I've seen much of the work he has done... and I have only been sucked into watching Canadian Idol (or any Idol for that matter) this summer, but as far as I can see, he's a solid host and does not deserve being slagged for speaking his mind. There are more people out there who should take his lead.