Dexter Roberts Out of American Idol 2014 Tour

Dexter Roberts, the seventh place finisher on Season 13 of American Idol, is now off the live summer tour.

The tour has been ongoing since June 24, yet Dexter hasn't performed on a show since July 1st, with no official statement about his whereabouts over the last nine days. The immediate assumption was that Dexter was plagued by vocal issues, with fourth place finisher Jessica Meuse claiming on Twitter that his absence was health-related. However, a source now confirms that "both parties mutually agreed that he would be released from his contractual obligations to continue performing on the tour," with no further explanation being offer for what happened.

Dexter has been booked to appear at Birmingham, Alabama's World Deer Expo July 18 through 20, which more or less verifies that he's done with the tour. All that's left is to speculate on the reasons. Did he have an issue with only being given two solo songs on the setlist? Did he simply feel he could make more money booking his own gigs? Did he disagree with the amount of money he'd presumably have to split with the show per his contract? Or did he need so many days off due to illness that it no longer made sense for him to continue for the remainder of the tour?

It's hard to know for certain, but what is known is that this has already been a tour riddled with issues. For example, for the very first time in the 12-year history of the tour, the finalists are singing without the accompaniment from a live band. Yes, they're performing to backing tracks. In addition, an Albany, New York tour date has already been canceled. That said, we are kind of surprised there even was a tour this year, given that last year's tour featured ten dates getting canceled, but then that was a season where I'm not even certain what the draw was supposed to be for the tour. Were people really going to shell out top dollar to see Lazaro Arbos butcher The Carpenters?

Via: Yahoo!

Credit: AmericanIdol.com