Jermaine Jones will apparently be the American Idol finalist disqualified due to an undisclosed criminal record during Wednesday night's live performance show.
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Jones outed himself as the contestant leaving the show shortly after a Tuesday evening report in which TMZ reported American Idol would be disqualifying an unidentified eleventh-season finalist after learning the finalist had concealed a criminal record.
"Awww I will no longer b on the show," Jones tweeted from his official American Idol Twitter account.
While he deleted the tweet later, Jones has since continued to re-tweet supportive responses from other Twitter users upset about his American Idol departure.
In addition, TMZ and The Hollywood Reporter both subsequently reported Jones has been disqualified, citing undisclosed sources. Fox declined comment when contacted by The Reporter.
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According to TMZ, American Idol producers learned of Jones' criminal record on Tuesday and it includes charges from two separate 2011 crimes -- one of which involved violence and both of which he gave a false name to police when arrested for -- and multiple outstanding arrest warrants.
American Idol reportedly confronted Jones about his criminal record on-camera on Tuesday afternoon and the confrontation will be broadcast during Wednesday's live perform show.
"How can I be lieing nd I never said anything," Jones wrote cryptically in a still-undeleted tweet posted earlier on Tuesday.
TMZ did not report whether Jones' disqualification may result in American Idol not eliminating an additional finalist during Thursday night's live results show or potentially allowing Jeremy Rosado -- who was eliminated during last week's first finals results show -- to return to the competition.
While rare, American Idol has disqualified semifinalists and finalists several times in its eleven-year history.
In 2010, Chris Golightly was disqualified from American Idol's ninth-season semifinals before they began after the show's producers determined he was ineligible due to unspecified reasons he later attributed to an alleged mix-up over an expired recording contract (the recording company disagreed).
A year earlier, eighth-season Idol semifinalist Joanna Pacitti was disqualified due to "a perceptional problem" resulting from her previous relationships with two executives of the show's 19 Entertainment production company.
During Idol's second season, semifinalist Jaered Andrews was disqualified over (later acquitted) charges of committing an assault that led to a man's death and then 23-year-old semifinalist Frenchie Davis was disqualified for having previously posed for faux "kiddie porn" photos.
Later that same season, Corey Clark, one of the season's nine remaining finalists, was dismissed for failing to disclose pending battery charges.
About The Author: Steven Rogers