"I'm reading so much baloney in everything. There was something in the press saying Jennifer Lopez is a diva. That woman is in no way a diva, they don't know what divas are if they think Jennifer Lopez is one. ... There is so much rubbish going on. My feeling is [the selection process] depends on the content of the panel, and the chemistry within it. I don't care if they're Romanian, as long as they fit in with the people around them, and we get a feeling that they know what they're talking about. All you want [in an 'Idol' judge] is somebody who's going to be honest with their decisions, not somebody who's going to say things to be nice. And why would a star, in truth, want to come on that show and say, 'You were crap tonight'? Because that star is going to be booed. ... So it's going to be really difficult. You just want honest people."
-Once and future "American Idol" producer Nigel Lythgoe, discussing various rumors surrounding who will be judges on the upcoming season of the show. In a conversation with Yahoo! Music after the finale of "So You Think You Can Dance," he talked about his goals for the show and what may be coming next. His comments about Lopez came following a story that she was out of the running because her "demands" had gotten to great.
Lythgoe wants fans of the show to have faith in him and to believe in the show's future. "Don't forget, when I started 'American Idol,' I brought over Simon Cowell, who no one had heard of, and a young man called Randy Jackson ... and Paula Abdul, who a lot of people had said, well, her career is over," he said. "And that was the start of a team that will be revered every time judges are spoken about. So it isn't just about what you've done in your career, it's about how you fit in with other people around you. And at the end of the day, it's about the contestants and their talent, and it's not about the judges."
Yesterday, we told you that "American Idol" executive producer 
Longtime "American Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, the man who has been pulling the strings during the show's live broadcasts, has confirmed that he's leaving the program to focus on spreading the "So You Think You Can Dance" gospel around the world. He also said he is working on an unspecified new venture with fellow "Idol" producer and co-creator Simon Fuller. Then again, his departure comes after the show's uneven eighth season and amid suggestions that the highest-rated show on TV might be losing steam.