American Idol

Adam Lambert is facing a lawsuit from a record label that claims he violated his contract by appearing on season eight of American Idol.

Colwel Platinum Entertainment - the same company attempting to release an album of former tracks by Lambert, against the singer's wishes - has filed documents in California federal court that allege Adam was under a Music Services Agreement and a Co-Publishing Agreement when he took the Idol stage.

Reads the lawsuit:

"Upon further information and belief, the rules governing appearances on and participation in American Idol when Lambert was a contestant provided, among other things, that contestants were ineligible if 'as of the date of [the] audition, [they had]...a music recording contract...or any other contractual arrangement that would prohibit [them] from entering into a...recording contract..." A violation of this provision was grounds for disqualification."

Appearing on reality shows, it does a body good!

A day after Ricki Lake showed off her newly-trim figure, courtesy of a stint on Dancing with the Stars, American Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina has opened up about the steps she's taken to shed 25 pounds in just a couple months.

What's the secret?

It looks like Lauren Alaina's debut album is not the only thing doing well!

"Changing my diet was the big thing," Alaina tells Us Weekly. "I had to learn correct portion control... I eat an egg-white omelet for breakfast, shrimp and veggies for lunch and chicken with asparagus for dinner."

Exercise is also key. Alaina enjoys daily workouts that include crunches, pushups and squats. She's down to a size two and she has 10 more pounds to go until she reaches her goal.

Go get 'em, girl!

[Photos: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via AP Images; Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Paramount]

Don't cry, Jennifer Lopez. American Idol will soon be back on the air.

Fox has released the first official preview for season 11 of its monstrous hit, as the following video features J. Lo, Randy Jackson, Ryan Seacrest and Steven Tyler strolling down the street and inviting slack-jawed onlookers to join them for auditions.

And when will these new auditions kick off? On January 22. Mark your calendars and prepare for a couple weeks of bad singing and sad sob stories before we get to the talented meat of live episodes. Watch the full-length trailer now:

American Idol Season 11 Preview

The Twilight Saga has officially merged with American Idol.

Following two months of dating and four months of an engagement, Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald got married in Malibu yesterday, as the actress gushed to Us Weekly:

"We couldn't be happier!. [We were] surrounded by our family and friends. We're so glad this day has come!" 

Reed - who portrays Rosalie Hale and will next be seen in Breaking Dawn - first met the season 10 finalist in March at the premiere of Red Riding Hood. Just a month later, McDonald moved into Reed's Los Angeles home.

And the rest is romantic history.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Scotty McCreery is growing accustomed to finishing in first place.

The talented young country crooner did so on American Idol in May, of course, and now he's done so again on the Billboard Top 200. McCreery's debut album, "Clear as Day," sold 197,000 copies in its first week out, according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing it atop that chart.

Scotty McCreery - I Love You This Big

"My head is just spinning," Scotty says. "It started out kind of low: They said 100,000 maybe. Then every day I saw the numbers climbing. It's wild: It wasn't a year ago that I was a normal cat, and now I'm number one on Billboard. It's insane, it really is."

McCreery is the first Idol champion to hit number-one with his initial release since Ruben Studdard in 2003.

Lauren Alaina, meanwhile, released her first effort this week and will try to match Scotty's total.

In newly-released excerpts from an Out Magazine interview, Adam Levine took American Idol to task this week, claiming the competition forces its gay contestants to hide their sexuality.

Asked about that accusation, Idol/So You Think You Can Dance producer Nigel Lythoe essentially told Entertainment Weekly: HUH?!?

Indirectly or intentionally, Adam Lambert and Adam Levine continue to cross paths.

"To be frank, I didn’t understand why we’re talking about contestants being gay or not gay," Lythoe said. "I don’t go into my dentist and say, “Are you gay?” I don’t say to contestants on So You Think You Can Dance, “Are you gay?” What does it got to do with me? What does it got to do with anybody? When does privacy stop in this country?

"If somebody wants to say they’re gay, it’s up to them. You don’t expect us to turn around and say, “Are you gay?” Why would we do that? - “By the way, he’s a Catholic and he supports Obama and here’s his sexuality” - what does that have anything to do with singing talent? Maybe it does for Adam Levine, but not for me."

Maroon 5 singer and The Voice coach Adam Levine poses topless for the new issue of gay magazine Out, while taking shots at a rival singing competition.

Levine, whose brother is gay, takes American Idol to task for making its contestants allegedly "mask" their sexuality, as Adam Lambert recently claimed.

Runner-up Lambert said he wasn't allowed to discuss his sexuality on the show due to AI's restriction on contestants giving interviews during the season.

"What’s always pi**ed me off about American Idol is wanting to mask it, for it to go unspoken,” says Levine. “C’mon. You can’t be publicly gay? At this point?"

"On a singing competition? Give me a break. You can’t hide basic components of these people’s lives," he adds. "To me, the fact that The Voice didn’t have any qualms about being completely about it is a great thing.”

Ironically, on The Voice this spring, Levine was briefly criticized for a perceived slam of Lambert, whose hit song he claimed he had never heard of.

We have an update on Jennifer Lopez, and it does not concern her personal life for a change.

The newly-divorced singer may not be go back to Marc Anthony (no matter how much he begs and pleads), but American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe confirmed today that she's signed a deal to return to the show for season 11.

"I am delighted to say that all three judges, along with the brilliant host of American Idol, is back for the next season," Lythgoe said on brilliant host Ryan Seacrest's radio program today.

Terms of J. Lo's contract were not disclosed, though earlier reports claimed she would be receiving a salary of $20 million/year, a wild sum of which Steven Tyler is allegedly jealous.

That is merely a rumor, however. All we can say for certain: you won't be seeing the above act repeated on next May's finale.

Comedian Jerry Lewis has made millions of people laugh over the years. But we doubt Fox executives found his comments at the Television Critics Association press tour very funny.

Taking the stage in front of reporters, Lewis said he considers television a "miracle," but he isn't a big fan of most programs these days. Especially American Idol.

"The kids who are on American Idol, they're all McDonald's wipeouts," Jerry said. "They've all been dumped. They've worked there and now they're doing that. And of course they all play a guitar, which takes the place of music."

But how do you really feel, Jerry?

"The industry has destroyed itself. We don't have the soul in our industry that we had when I was working. And the soul has been desperately deteriorated, only because you got a guy that's running a network whose aunt died and left him some stock."

 Ouch. Sorry, Scotty McCreery. But you probably can't count on Lewis buying your album.

Let's leave Jennifer Lopez's messy personal life aside for a moment and focus on her professional universe: Just how close is the singer to returning in 2012 as a judge on American Idol?

VERY, according to Cécile Frot-Coutaz, the CEO of FremantleMedia North America, which produces the Fox competition.

“We’re in good shape," she told The Wall Street Journal. "No worries. No dark clouds on the horizon.”

An announcement may be made any day this week, which would seemingly be welcome by most Idol viewers.

Despite losing Simon Cowell and despite upheaval at the table due to the departures of Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres, season 10 of American Idol garnered huge ratings with J. Lo and Steven Tyler on board.

Do you want to see Lopez back on Idol?