Joanna Pacitti Disqualified from American Idol

We didn't think it would happen, seeing as Carly Smithson, another major label refugee, was allowed to continue on through the top 12 of American Idol last season, but Joanna Pacitti, the 24-year-old stunner who made it to the Top 36 on this week's episode, has been disqualified from competing on season 8.

The show's website, americanidol.com, posted the official Top 36 late last night, noting that Pacitti was deemed "ineligible" and would be replaced by Felicia Barton. FOX did not respond to our request for comment on Wednesday evening, but we hear a statement is forthcoming.

In the meantime, let us bring you up to speed: there's been a decent amount of hub-bub surrounding Pacitti's professional past, including not only her former record deal (with A&M/Geffen, which released her debut album, This Crazy Life, in 2006), but also an opening slot on the last Nick Lachey tour (Lachey is signed to Jive Records, which is owned by SonyBMG, the company that awards a recording contract to the Idol winner), dubious connections to staffers at 19 Entertainment, including Pacitti's former manager, songs of hers that made it to soundtracks that sold well (like Legally Blonde) and later onto albums by major pop stars, like Britney Spears, not to mention a long, sad battle with the producers of a national tour of Annie, who released Pacitti from a starring role after she contracted bronchitis — a scandal covered by major news outlets at the time. And there are the numbers: unlike Smithson, whose ill-fated Carly Hennessy debut sold only a few hundred copies out the gate, Pacitti's moved more than 16,000, which, by today's standards, is a decent sales tally for any indie-rock band of note. Plus, as a protegé of power player Ron Fair, current head of Interscope/Geffen/A&M Records and the man credited for discovering Christina Aguilera (another SonyBMG artist) and Fergie, she has a lot of contacts in the industry, as we learned this past Grammy weekend when we constantly ran into people who either knew her or worked with her in some capacity....
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