Highlights; Arts Briefing
Ben Sisario
The New York Times December 4, 2003

A FALLEN 'AMERICAN IDOL'? -- Has Justin Guarini, left, the kinky-haired crooner who was last year's runner-up on "American Idol," been dropped from his record contract? If so, he would be the first casualty from that star-making television show, which has drawn huge ratings and produced several hit albums. Mr. Guarini did not appear on the "American Idol" holiday special on Fox last week, and his name has disappeared from the list of artists on the Web site for his label, RCA Records. Mr. Guarini's album sales have also lagged far behind those of his fellow Idols. His self-titled debut, released in June, has sold only 135,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan; Kelly Clarkson, by comparison, has sold 1.7 million for "Thankful" and Clay Aiken's "Measure of a Man" has netted 1.4 million in less than two months. A spokeswoman for RCA declined to comment, and Mr. Guarini's publicist, Jeff Ballard, said that Mr. Guarini had not been told of any trouble by anyone at RCA or his manager, 19 Management. Mr. Guarini said in a statement that he missed the Fox special because he was "in the middle of renegotiating my contract with 19 Management."