(andPOP) -
William Hung walked into the Toronto Argonauts locker room at SkyDome at about 11:15 a.m., a quarter of an hour after a press conference was scheduled to begin. Hung was not the reason for the late start. He was in the building. The delay was because hoards of media, more than the amount which covered the Blue Jays' opening day, were still filing in.
Hung was smiling. He usually is, ever since he received a recording contract from Koch and saw his album reach Number One on the Independent sales charts. After a dozen photo opportunities, one of which had Hung receiving a customized Jays jersey from star outfielder Frank Catalanotto, Hung sat down to meet the press, hours before he was scheduled to perform "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the Jays' seventh-inning stretch.
One reporter wanted to solve the mystery of Hung right away. "Do you think you're a good singer? Yes or no?"
Be sure to check out andPOP's exclusive William Hung photo gallery to see more photos of William performing at the Blue Jays game, hanging out with the cheerleaders, and accepting his jersey.
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"No comment," said Hung. It was clear he had been through some media training. Hung jumped around most questions, not giving the "quoteworthy" answers, and offered a "no comment" any time it would make him look bad.
Another tried asking in a different way. "Do you consider yourself a great talent?"
"No comment." He then added, "That's up to the people. I shouldn't be judging myself. Other people should judge me."
However, the most thoughtful question actually put things in perspective. See, Hung is an American Idol reject. When he auditioned on the hit televised American singing competition, it was perhaps the worst audition the judges had seen in the show's three year history. He used his horrendous singing abilities to make a career. How long the career will last will be clear any minute now, but Hung has made a considerable amount of money, selling close to 100,000 copies of "Inspiration" and performing across North America at special events like the Jays game Sunday.
"Some people in the Asian community resent your success because they think it might hinder their chances of being taken seriously in the music industry. How do you feel about that?" Hung is the only Asian artist on the Billboard charts. Asians have never had an easy time cracking the U.S. or Canada mainstream market.
Hung thought for a few seconds, before issuing his "no comment" response. The thing with Hung is he appears to take everything seriously, and has said he thinks he's a good singer. Are people laughing at him, or is he in on the joke?
After about a half hour of questions, Hung went to his luxury box seats to watch the game. When he was shown on the Jumbotron in the second inning, he stood up and waved, with the fans cheering for the cast-off Idol star.
In the middle of the seventh inning stretch, Hung walked to the middle of the third base line, accompanied by two cheerleaders, and butchered the song, just as expected, and just as he was hired to do.
Most of the nearly 23,000 in attendance cheered his arrival. A few boos could be heard when the cheers died down.
After about a minute, Hung was escorted by the cheerleaders off the field, and off to his next stop, Buffalo, New York, where he is set to perform alongside Kanye West, Mario Winans, and Fefe Dobson. John Stevens, a finalist from this year's Idol, and Kimberly Locke, who made it to the final three in last year's, are also set to perform.
Might Hung ever return to Toronto? There's nothing scheduled, but he said he wants to record a second album and write some songs. He was serious. He also hopes to record a Chinese album.
"I really hope so in the future," he said.
"A Christmas album?" asked another reporter.
"I'm not sure. Maybe in the future as well."
The anticipation mounts.
