Ten American Idol contestants cut from the show for various reasons are suing, asking for $25+ million each in damages because the show has systematically engaged in disqualifying contestants who are black. The lawsuit’s claims, as first reported by TMZ, are fascinating. The lawyer representing the contestants, James H. Freeman, earlier asked the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for permission to sue, saying the show played to “destructive stereotypes” by publicly disqualifying these contestants, acting as if they were “violent criminals, liars, and sexual deviants” even though not one of them was actually convicted of anything based on their arrests. As EW notes, “Furthermore, Freeman wrote, the show illegally dug up arrest histories for those 10 men, using them to humiliate the singers — but never attempted to dig up similar dirt about white contestants. Allegedly, only black contestants were questioned about their criminal histories.” The Huffington Post lists the pla...