Finally, Paula Abdul responds to the news of Ellen Degeneres replacing her role as one of the judges of American Idol.  Paula said ”

“AMERICAN IDOL is a fantastic show that offers an invaluable platform to young talent. Ellen DeGeneres is wildly funny and talented in her own right.

I wish her and the show only the best of luck. Hope it’s comparable to Las Vegas Shows. ”

Ellen also spent time chatting with Ryan Seacrest and shared her thoughts on being one of the judges (source: perezhilton.com).

On her qualifications for being a judge:
“The people are the ones that choose the American Idol. Ultimately it doesn’t come down to some expert in the music industry, it comes down to everybody at home that says ‘that’s the person I relate to, that’s the person that I’m going to buy music from’.”

On her judging style:
“I’m not going to be mean, I hate when Simon Cowell is that mean. You can be constructive and criticize somebody that’s helpful instead of mean spirited.”

On Paula Abdul’s departure:
“I hope Paula [Abdul] is okay with it. I don’t want anybody to think I took Paula’s job away. I feel like she was gone and then everybody was looking for somebody else, then I stepped in. I certainly don’t want to be that person that is the evil taking Paula’s job away.”

After Paula Abdul announced her intention to leave the hit reality show “American Idol,” many fans are doubting Abdul’s drama was nothing more than a publicity stunt but Ryan Seacrest, Idol’s host says otherwise.

Idol Trio: Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul & Simon Cowell

Seacrest recently revealed on his radio show last August 5th and I quote “First of all, everyone that I passed today here has asked me, ‘Is it true? Is it a publicity stunt?’ “He said, adding, “As far as I know, it’s real — at this point, she’d decided to leave.”

“So the news that Paula Abdul is leaving ‘American Idol’ stunned me last night. She’s a dear friend I love her to death and [it's] really sad that it’s come to fruition,” he said. “I’m just bummed and I think if you were to talk to Randy or Simon they’d say the same thing. It’s just sad. It bums us out.”

Seacrest also claims that he only found out about Paula Abdul’s decision to leave the show when he was having dinner Tuesday night. He made a phone call to verify if the news was true and this was he was told that Abdul is indeed leaving. Further more Seacrest isn’t ruling out the possibility that Abdul might be come back as an Idol Judge.

“I would love that,” he said. “That would be great. This week Randy, Simon, Kara and I are in Denver for auditions, and I’m sure I’ll have more to tell you.
“You hate to see this happen. I’m sure she has her reasons. Everybody sort of wondering what’s happening, but [it's] not a publicity stunt.”

For more details check MTV.com.

Paula Abdul one of the tenured judges of the hottest reality musical competition, American Idol, may not be coming back for the ninth season according to her manager during an interview with LA Times. The manager claims that Paula was and I quote “She’s not a happy camper as a result of what’s going on. She’s hurt. She’s angry,” David Sonenberg, the “Idol” judge’s manager, told the newspaper on Friday.”

Sonenberg who became Paula Abdul’s manager just weeks ago says that he has yet to receive a proposal for Paula’s new contract. His reaction was set forth after the news that Ryan Seacrest, American Idol’s host, was offered a 45-million contract tying him up with the show for the next three years. Paula’s co-judges, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson also received offers. Cowell was heard to be in negotiations to renew his contract while Jackson is already set with the show until 2011.

Sonenberg comments that Paula’s situation was rather unusual and unnecessarily hurtful. Furthermore, he complains that it was rude and disrespectful since Fox still have not made any attempts to renew Paula’s contract.