If recent NIU grad Dave Della Terza had his way, William Hung would be a contender for American Idol’s Top 12.

At least that is part of the logic behind the creation of Terza’s Web site www.votefortheworst.com, which encourages people to vote for the worst singer in the ubiquitous reality show.

“We’re sending a message that the show is less one where America picks a winner and more one where 19 Entertainment promotes the person they’d like to see win, while the other 11 stand no chance of winning,” said Terza, who graduated in December 2004 with a communication degree.

Terza, 22, started watching ‘AI’ during its second season, but said it was more fun to watch during the third season, when VFTW began.

The Web site, which includes a summary of the page’s media attention, mail from people and a store complete with VFTW merchandise – like a teddy bear and a bumper sticker – experienced technical difficulty last week and had to be shut down temporarily when more than 200,000 people tried to access it Tuesday morning, Terza said. The site is now up and running, he said.

Fox issued a statement last week, calling the Web site “a hateful campaign.”

“Millions of fans of ‘American Idol’ have voted for their favorites so far this season, and that success speaks far louder than any vicious and mean-spirited Web site,” according to the statement.

It is “perfectly legal” for someone to create a Web site like this, said David Gunkel, associate professor of communication. It falls under the protection of speech granted by the First Amendment, he said. If the site used the AI logo or images from the show, Fox could sue for copyright infringement, he said.

Terza said he had to remove video and audio clips and pictures that Freemantle, the producers of ‘AI,’ owned.

Some NIU students who are fans of ‘AI’ have mixed feelings about the site.

“There are different types of people: Ones that love American Idol, hate American Idol or just really don’t care for it,” senior marketing major Michelle Gordon said. Terza may just want to start up some conflict surrounding the show, she said. Gordon said everyone has their own views.

Now with Scott Savol out of the competition, Terza’s goal is to keep Anthony Federov in the running.

“Some people take this all too seriously,” Terza said. “It’s a [television] show and I think we should all have fun with it … but for us, it’s fun to just kind of mock a [television] show a bit.” Terza said he gets letters from 50-year-old mothers who tell him his site is illegal and unconstitutional, “with plenty of words a 50-year-old mother shouldn’t be using in front of her children.”

Terza’s advice to the AI audience is this: “I just wish people would vote based on who they actually like and not who the producers tell them they should like.”