American Idol has been accused of being tone deaf when it comes to tolerance.
Last week's season premiere of the talent search drew the ire of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, after both Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson made remarks that the activist group characterized as offensive.
While snarky banter and nasty putdowns are standard form for the American Idol judges, GLAAD contends that Cowell and Jackson each crossed the line by taking aim at contestants' sexuality during the fifth-season premiere of the talent search.
After one male contestant's performance at the Chicago auditions shown in last Tuesday's episode, Cowell snapped that he should "shave off the beard and wear a dress," because he would make a "great female impersonator."
Jackson followed suit Wednesday night, asking an androgynous hopeful named Zachary Travis, "are you a girl?" After gamely laughing off the dig at his gender, Travis gave his performance of Whitney Houston's "Queen of the Night," which was, to be fair, less than impressive.
In typical fashion, Cowell deemed the rendition "atrocious" and "confused," leaving the would-be Idol in tears. Making matters worse, as Travis cried to his family on-camera after his audition, Idol producers cued up the theme to 1992's gender-bending film, The Crying Game.
"The real offense here was in the producer's decision to add insult to injury by turning a contestant's gender expression into the butt of a joke," GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine said in a statement.
As a result of its concerns, GLAAD contacted the network in order to discuss the group's stance on Idol.
"We've spoken with Fox and have entered into what we hope will be a productive, ongoing conversation about the show's representation and discussion of sexual orientation and gender expression," Romine stated Monday.
Fox declined to comment on the matter.
GLAAD isn't the only activist group stepping up to call Idol out on questionable behavior.
Niger Innis, national spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), told TMZ.com that the group was concerned about Idol's treatment of people of color.
"American Idol is part of an entertainment culture that often makes blacks look like a bunch of clowns," Innis said.
Meanwhile, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) is upset over Cowell's persistant jabs at overweight contestants.
"I have mixed feelings about American Idol," Peggy Howell, NAAFA'S public-relations chairperson, told TMZ.com. "We saw how far Ruben Studdard has gone because of the show. However, Simon Cowell continues to make rude remarks about overweight and obese contestants."
Despite the controversy, Idol notched monster ratings last week, with Tuesday's episode drawing a whopping 35.5 million viewers and Wednesday's episode attracting an only slightly less impressive audience of 31.4 million.
The show returns Tuesday, showcasing the Greensboro, North Carolina auditions, and Wednesday, featuring the San Francisco auditions.
In other Idol news, a man accused of stalking season four finalist Jessica Sierra was denied bail Tuesday after a judge determined that he was a flight risk. Daniel Robert Young was arrested last week, after he flew from California to Tampa, where he was apprehended by police at the home of Sierra's grandparents.
Meanwhile, current contestant Derrell Brittenum joined his twin brother, Terrell, behind bars after turning himself in Friday to Georgia authorities on charges of forgery, theft by deception and financial identity fraud.
Derrell spent the weekend in a Rockdale County, Georgia jail cell, before being released on a $30,000 bond. Terrell remains behind bars in Tennessee without bond. Fox has not commented on whether the brothers will be seen on future Idol episodes, though both made it through the Chicago audition.