A Second Opinion

As verbal spats fly back and forth, the time comes to ask the question: Who's the bigger diva?

Jennifer Hudson was criticized by Simon Cowell for leaving American Idol out of her Oscar acceptance speech. In a post-show interview, however, she said, "American Idol is a great platform. Thank God there is such a thing as Idol …"

Hudson's speech was a stand-out because it was so heartfelt. She improvised it, thanking God twice and nearly forgetting to thank her predecessor, Jennifer Holliday. She directly praised her family and her Dreamgirls collegues. Cowell, who was not affiliated with her or the film, was probably the last thing on her mind.

Cowell responded to Hudson's words saying, "… Stepping stone? It was her big opportunity to become noticed and she got noticed and she got Dreamgirls. Singers like her deliberately turn against the show that made them successful …"

Even after Idol, doors were being slammed in Hudson's face, who auditioned for Dreamgirls three times and was initially rejected for her role. Idol wasn't a direct ticket to the cast. Fantasia Barrino, who beat Hudson on Idol's season three, lost the role to her. The film's producers took a large risk in casting Hudson, who wasn't an established name and all but slipped under the public radar. It was Dreamgirls that solidified her status as a star and won her a record deal.

If Hudson had "deliberately" removed herself from Idol, she wouldn't have demonstrated her debt to the show when she won entertainer of the year at the Soul Train awards March 4 saying, "I just can't believe I got the Sammy Davis, Jr. award! I'm standing on the same stage where I made the top 32 of American Idol."

Whatever the case, she has made it clear that Cowell can no longer insult her, as he did on Idol, responding, "If I'd been any better at my job when I was at Burger King in my middle teens I wouldn't be here either, so should I thank them, too?"

It's funny that Hudson has become the media target of this war of words. She isn't more conceited after winning an Oscar. Cowell, though, increasingly is since his show hit number one.