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'Idol' feud brews between Lee DeWyze and Nigel Lythgoe

In what seems like an odd pairing for an “American Idol” feud, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is currently in a war of words with last season’s winner, Lee DeWyze.The bad blood began during Wednesday’s finale, which saw former hopeful Scotty McCreery named the newest “Idol.” The problem, according to Lythgoe, was that if he’d had his way, DeWyze would have been the one to make it
Lee DeWyze, last year's \"Idol\" winner, wasn't happy about how he was invited to participate this year.
Lee DeWyze, last year's \"Idol\" winner, wasn't happy about how he was invited to participate this year.Today

In what seems like an odd pairing for an “American Idol” feud, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is currently in a war of words with last season’s winner, Lee DeWyze.

The bad blood began during Wednesday’s finale, which saw former hopeful Scotty McCreery named the newest “Idol.” The problem, according to Lythgoe, was that if he’d had his way, DeWyze would have been the one to make it official and pass the “Idol” trophy to the country crooner.

“I was so upset Lee DeWyze wouldn't present the winner’s trophy to Scotty,” Lythgoe tweeted Thursday morning. “Especially as he'd been on the show this season. I guess he was shy.”

But DeWyze claims there’s more to the story than the producer revealed.

“I was not asked to be involved in the finale,” DeWyze told to his followers. “It wasn't until about two minutes before they announced that Nigel had approached me and asked if he could ‘borrow’ me for a second.  I didn’t feel a last second jump on stage was appropriate. It was Scotty's moment.”

The singer’s fans used Twitter to tell Lythgoe just what they thought of his side of the story, but Lythgoe later implied that they weren’t doing their “Idol” any favors.

After retweeting a message that stated fans were hurting DeWyze by bashing the boss, Lythgoe added, ‘Yes, it’s not that smart, is it?’

All of this over a little trophy presentation? Well, maybe not.

As it turns out, DeWyze’s brother, Mike, took an online swipe at Lythgoe, calling him a “scumbag” with "no soul" before the finale for the “bull----” decision to not invite his sibling to sing on the big night. He later apologized for his heated remarks, but by then, the damage was done.

Update: The back-and-forth between Lythgoe and DeWyze is back again. This time the “Idol” big wig took to Twitter and fanned the flames of the feud while claiming he doesn’t want to fan the flames at all.

“I don't wish to continue the @leedewyze story,” Lythgoe wrote before adding, “True, he wasn't asked to sing but Lee knows he was asked to present the trophy a week before.”

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