American Idol

The songstress called her local nail salon in Grants Pass, Ore. yesterday to make an appointment, and get this -- Kristy asked to be ushered in through the back door to avoid the crowds of adoring fans. Only problem, there weren't any!

TMZ caught up with the latest "American Idol" reject at LAX today, and asked him what he thought about another "A.I." reject -- David Archuleta's dad.

We asked the "A.I." judge what he thought about David's stage dad from hell -- but for once Simon had nothing but nice things to say.

As TMZ first reported, Jeff is "banned from being in the rooms where David was learning or rehearsing his songs." He will be allowed to sit in the audience during the live show, but he's 86'd from anything backstage.

TMZ has learned David Archuleta's dad, Jeff, has been officially banned from "American Idol."

Here's how it went down. "Idol" sources tell TMZ Jeff has been a complete pain in the ass, interfering with the entire production. He has badgered producers, the band, vocal coaches and even other contestants. The final straw came this week, when Jeff wanted to change the lyrics to David's first song, "Stand By Me." Jeff insisted on adding a verse from Sean Kingston's hit, "Beautiful Girls." Producers sent him an e-mail telling him the lyrics could not be changed. They were beyond pissed when David sang the song with Kingston's lyrics during the live show.

We're told by changing the lyrics, it created problems with the song's publisher and cost "A.I." a lot of money.

Jeff was ordered to sit with "A.I." lawyers on Wednesday, who told him he was "banned from being in the rooms where David was learning or rehearsing his songs." It's "Idol's" position, since David is 17, he does not need a guardian -- just a teacher. Jeff will be allowed to sit in the audience during the live show but he's 86'd from anything backstage.

Sources say the other contestants were fed up with Jeff and didn't want him near them. Now they have their wish.

How making Paula Abdul misty-eyed counts as spreading the word of Mormon is beyond us.

Colin Leahy, who's 23 and auditioned on season three of "AI," was arrested by Brooklyn cops yesterday and charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He was arraigned and released on his own recognizance, the DA tells TMZ.

Leahy never made it to Hollywood, and he had compared himself to Clayken because they had both been camp counselors -- oops. Simon Cowell called his tryout "as bad as it can possibly get." Well, maybe not quite.

We have a spy at the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" taping today, for a show that airs tomorrow. Producers slowed down the tape of "A.I" where Ryan is reading the phone numbers and Jason mouths what looks like, "Don't vote."

Some people at TMZ think he might be saying, "vote, vote," but the majority of us think he's asking for the boot -- which, by the way, he ended up getting anyway.

Davie boy was pretty good last night, but really, it's as if the judges were preprogrammed to drool over him regardless of what he did. They didn't cream over Kelly Clarkson the way they did with David, and no offense, but he eats her dust.

The final four "A.I." contestants -- David Cook, David Archuleta, Syesha Mercado and Jason Castro -- were greeted in Las Vegas yesterday by a pap/fan crush only Brangelina and Britney have witnessed.

Who knew "Idol" was so popular?

Isn't that how she got voted off in the first place?

Royals fans can rest easy -- there won't be 25 crying kids in the crowd when David Cook comes to town.

Cook was approached by the Kansas City Royals to sing the national anthem at game on May 9. The problem is 25 elementary kids were already booked.

A spokesperson for the Royals told TMZ that Cook didn't feel comfortable bumping the kids -- so he'll sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch instead, and throw out the first pitch.

One of them is a lesbian icon.

We're just sayin'!