In Defense of Simon's Eye Roll

Yes, I watch American Idol.

Last night's show began with Ryan Seacrest acknowledging the Virginia Tech shootings and expressing condolences.

I thought it was the proper way to begin the show. Mentioning the tragedy upfront was appropriate.

I also caught Simon Cowell's now infamous split-second eye roll after contestant and Virginia native Chris Richardson said, "My heart and prayers go out to Virginia Tech. I have a lot of friends over there. Be strong."

I saw it as it aired last night, so my immediate reaction wasn't colored by any of today's comments.

My opinion:

I thought the cutaway was extremely unfortunate in terms of timing.

I suspected that some people might interpret Cowell's reaction to be in response to Richardson's words of support for Virginia Tech.

(Apparently, I was right.)

In my opinion, Cowell is being unfairly accused today of callousness.

I took the eye roll to be in response to Richardson's argumentative attempt to justify his nasally performance, not his comments about the tragedy.

I also don't think the words were a cheap effort on Richardson's part to deflect from his poor performance.

It appeared to me that Richardon was sincere in expressing his concern for the people at Virginia Tech.

It appeared to me that Cowell was sincere in expressing his disgust for Richardson's reaction to his criticism about the PERFORMANCE.

In short, there's no controversy here.

Case closed.