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It seems that not even Nicki Minaj can stop these past American Idol contestants from going for their own “moment for life”.

Nine former American Idol contestants from various seasons have banded together to sue the reality TV singing show for racism and violating California unemployment law. The lawsuit, which was obtained via letter by TMZ, was submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by attorney James H. Freeman.

Corey Clark (Season 2), Jaered Andrews (Season 2), Donnie Williams (Season 3), Terrell Brittenum (Season 5), Derrell Brittenum (Season 5), Thomas Daniels (Season 6), Akron Watson (Season 6), Ju’Not Joyner (Season 8) and Chris Golightly (Season 9) are the only contestants to be publicly disqualified from the show, according to Freeman’s investigation, and yes, they all just happen to be Black.

Freeman says that the producers behind the long-running show kicked off Jermaine Jones in 2012, when they claimed that Jones failed to inform them about outstanding warrants for his arrest. That incident, combined with the hiring of private investigators, prompted Freeman to represent the past Idol contestants. The extra kicker to this is that Freeman wrote in his letter that “American Idol has never once publicly disqualified a White or non-Black American Idol contestant in the history of the eleven season production.”

Of course, Idol head honcho Nigel Lythgoe says the allegations are “shocking” and ridiculous.  Lythgoe explained:

“We treat everybody the same … no matter the race, religion or sex… We’ve always had a fantastic share of talent from contestants both black and white … I don’t think I’ve ever seen racism at the show.”

Our guess is that Nigel must have forgotten about this, this and this.

Check out what the “Idol 9” look like on the next page. Let us know if you think this lawsuit has merit in the comments.

Photo: Fox

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