RIP, Rick James

I keep thinking about Rick James, the "king of funk," who passed away, this week. I do like his music, and I used to love his girl-band, the Mary Jane Girls. I used to sing along to their In My House tape all the time!) But liking the music does not always mean liking the man. So many people wanted to be Rick James (Dave Chapelle, MC Hammer, and so on...), and so many have sampled him. Thinking about all of this has me thinking, in a more political sense about song selection. It can be hard to separate the tune from the auteur, and while I'll have a choice for my first audition song, I wonder how much of a voice I will have in the callbacks and on the show--should I make it that far... I wonder if the folks at American Idol or the Fox Network have any specific political policies regarding the content of their programs...?