One of the members of the American Idol top 24 is in a controversy that won’t go away and is more out of control than Britney Spears in a free Starbucks store .

The singer is Carly Smithson, who before she was married was Carly Hennessy. As Hennessy, Carly had a reported $2.2 million invested record deal with MCA.

Yes, $2.2 MILLION!

Idol producers say this is nothing new, and certainly not a controversy.

“The rules of the competition state it’s if you do not have a contract now. Goodness me, if Elvis Presley came back and was out of contract — and was able to participate through [Idol's] age [restrictions] — then he would be in the competition. Nobody said this is an amateur competition. This is something that people are making up for themselves. It doesn’t matter if you’ve had a professional contract. Kelly Clarkson had a professional contract. Bo Bice had a deal. [Taylor Hicks] has got records that are out there. This is nothing new.”

But what makes this story more interesting is how pathetic Hennessy Smithson’s MCA album did, and now she is in the top 24.

MCA reportedly spent $2.2 million on Carly’s album that sold less than 400 copies, TOTAL! It was so bad that  The Wall Street Journal eventually did a feature story about how much Carly was a bomb!

We have the video for you of that bomb MCA song.

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