Here are some quotes from an MSNBC report: "'American Idol' infuriates me as an artist," Rich said at an NBC press event for Nashville Star. "They're being fake about it. When you can't make a cognizant comment about someone's performance and you're commenting on something that happened the day before, why don't you just walk up onstage and slap them right across the face while you're at it? As an artist, I would just flip them the bird and walk off the stage. ... She wasn't even paying attention to what was going on."

"The reason their ratings are going into the toilet right now is because the American public cannot stand when it comes to reality," Rich said. "You can tell when somebody's comment was scripted. You can tell when they told an artist, 'Wear this, and sing that, and do that.' That's not the way it's going to work on this show," he said of "Nashville Star." - more on this story

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