Will Hung

Quoted from The Strait Times

FEB 6, 2004
Hung on Willy
MOVE over, Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard.

America has a new idol. His name is William Hung, and he didn't even win, let alone get shortlisted during the auditions for talentime show American Idol 3.

The civil engineering student from the University of California, Berkeley, both horrified and amused viewers with his by now infamous performance that was televised in the United States and on Channel 5 here on Jan 28.

While he didn't even finish his song - the Ricky Martin hit She Bangs - he has become the talk of the show and on the Internet.

In fact, a cult following has emerged and fans have dedicated a website to him.

In www.williamhung.net, set up by Don Chin and his wife Laura, both American Idol fans, Hung is called 'an entertainer who has charm, grace, dignity, persistence in fulfilling his dreams'.

The couple have created and posted mock CD covers and movie posters featuring Hung, calling them his 'movie and CD debuts'.

The site also features audio mixes of She Bangs and Hung's audition video clips.

The Chins claim that, in under a week, the site has been accessed more than four million times.

On the Internet, fans have posted e-forum notes describing Hung as 'lovable', 'cute' and 'innocent'.

He apparently endeared himself to fans when, instead of walking out in a huff when told he wasn't good enough, said a polite 'thank you' and left.

Hung, who is in his 20s, took part in the Idol auditions held in San Francisco.

Dressed in a colourful blue shirt tucked nerdishly into his pants, he rushed through the Ricky Martin hit.

His singing was badly offkey, and his awkward hand gestures during the chorus were reminiscent of a hula dancer and John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

The three judges - Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell - were in shock.

After Cowell cut him off mid-song, the earnest young man told the judges he had no professional training, to which Cowell replied tartly that this was the 'surprise of the century'.

Unfazed, Hung shot back his now-iconic reply: 'I already gave my best. I have no regrets at all.'

His performance was such a standout that show host Ryan Seacrest joked about it. It was also repeatedly shown on the programme's trailers.

Some 82 per cent of 119,000 voters on Idolonfox.com, the website by the Fox network behind American Idol, voted Hung's audition clip their favourite American Idol 3 audition moment.

Hung is from Hong Kong and has been living in the United States for 10 years.

He told The Daily Californian, his university's student newspaper, that he felt he had been exploited for his 'lack of talent' by producers of the Idol.

In its Feb 2 issue, he was quoted as saying: 'I looked like an idiot up there. I want to be good, not something that people will laugh at.'

He claimed that he had actually won a campus talent show with a rendition of She Bangs, and that he never expected to win Idol.

He didn't want to miss classes to continue with the endless rounds of the show if he had made it through the auditions, he added.

In any case, it looks like he's not hung up about losing.

He said he wanted to be a better performer, and has begun taking music classes and lessons on how to improve his singing.

I would also like to introduce a website about him: William Hung