For one reason or another, PSY’s big bandwagon never really made it to Japan. In fact, the country is so fed up with the Korean pop star that they’ve convinced themselves his overseas popularity is a well maintained lie and his YouTube views come from hired hands hitting refresh. So, it’s unsurprising that they were equally unsurprised, and perhaps a bit vindicated, to hear that PSY’s appearance on American Idol corresponded with record low ratings for the show.

As part of American Idol Season 12’s finale, PSY appeared as a guest performer with his new hit single, Gentleman. That night, for the first time in the history of American Idol finals, viewership dropped below 20 million people. Just over 14.3 million people watched the selection of this year’s new singing sensation, 33 percent less than last year’s 21.5 million.

Of course, Japan chocks it all up to PSY. Comments to the news include, “Not surprising. He’s not so popular.” “That’s lame, even for him.” “It’s because you can’t refresh a TV program!” and so many more, most of them inflammatory.

Let’s just forget that the show featured a large number of mainstream performers, such as Frankie Valli, Mariah Carrey, The Band Perry, and Jennifer Lopez, and that PSY’s song took up only three and half minutes of the two-hour long special. Japan understands that if the Korean entertainer was actually popular, the finales views would have been in the billions for sure.

Keep living in denial, Japan

Source: My Game News Flash at Jin (Japanese)
Inset image: American Idol Video via YouTube American Idol

▼ Here’s the clip of PSY’s performance on American Idol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhgoKw96FRE&feature=player_embedded