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Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. hot over 'American Idol's unflattering look at Bronx
Friday, January 21st 2011, 4:00 AM
Don't expect a harmonious duet from Ruben Diaz Jr. and Jennifer Lopez anytime soon.
The borough president slammed the Bronx-bred songstress yesterday for staying silent during what he called the worst hatchet job on the borough since Howard Cosell told a national TV audience "The Bronx is burning" three decades ago.
"American Idol" served up a gritty portrayal of the borough as a litter-strewn urban badland during its Wednesday show.
"There wasn't even a peep from her defending the Boogie Down," groused Diaz. "Here, we have a young lady sitting at the panel, someone brought up in Castle Hill, someone to whom the Bronx offered plenty of opportunities, and she did not say a word.
"Not a peep. Not even a peep!"
Along with Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson, Lopez serves as a judge on "Idol."
The segment told the story of contestant Travis Orlando's upbringing. Orlando, 16, spent three years in a Bronx homeless shelter.
"Tell me about growing up in the Bronx for you," asked Idol host Ryan Seacrest.
"It was tough," responds Orlando. "Gangs, drugs, violence.. .You have robberies, you have killings, anything you can possibly imagine goes on here."
Then they walk a street off the Grand Concourse, as ghetto-like images flash of a pay phone with a dangling receiver and an apparent makeshift memorial on a sidewalk.
A police car flashes its lights, accompanied by the sound of sirens. The camera pans to litter-filled streets with an empty plastic bag blowing down the sidewalk like tumbleweed. An FDNY ambulance barrels down the street and kids play in the spray from an open fire hydrant.
Orlando opens the metal-gated door to the building where his family once lived. He talks in front of walls marred by graffiti.
The contestant, who advanced, sang a rendition of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" and "I'm Yours," by Jason Mraz.
Meanwhile, Diaz did say that "Idol" fans should vote "early and often" for Orlando.
"I'm going to be dialing in as much as I can," he said. "Unlike a democratic election, you can vote as many times as you like."
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