March 4, 2008
American Idol finalist David Hernandez is free to remain on the reality show, despite his past as a nude dancer, according to the show’s executive producer.
“The truth is we’re never judgmental about what people do to earn a living. They’ve gotta put food in people’s mouths,” Idol’s executive producer, Ken Warwick, tells TVGuide.com. “If it were some sort of heavy porn, then maybe we’d have to take action. But certainly not on this.”
The 24-year-old singer performed in the buff a male strip club in Phoenix for three years, the manager of the club has said.
“He had the look and the type that people like, so he made pretty good money here,” Gordy Bryan, manager of Dick’s Cabaret, tells the Associated Press.
As for how his past could influence his future, Warick says, “If there’s a stretch of the public that thinks, ‘Oh, dear, he was a male stripper, I’m not gonna vote for him,’ then that’s the luck of the draw.”
