There have been rumors, insinuations and speculation up until now. 
   But with the shocking ouster of favored “American Idol” contestant Jennifer Hudson on Wednesday’s show, all the muted muttering has  turned into one sharply worded question:
   Is “American Idol” rigged?
   Fox contends winners are chosen by viewers calling in, and nothing has emerged to directly challenge that contention.
   But huge doubts are being raised about popular talents, such as Hudson, being booted off the show in favor of far less talented performers. And this is not the first time the show has come under challenge. Last year, similar doubts were raised over the extremely tight final vote between Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken in “Idol 2.” 
   For Fox, it is not enough that the show's voting be legitimate and the selection of winners on the up and up. It also must have all the appearances of legitimacy as well. And for Fox, famous for creating reality shows with odd twists and outcomes--the goof within the goof of "Joe Millionaire" comes to mind--that appearance is all the more important.
   If "Idol" were to come under widespread public doubt, it could quickly kill Fox's top show and one of the most successful shows of the entire reality genre.
   Back in the 1950s, game shows were all the rage of primetime until  a scandal broke in which one contestant was found to be receiving the answers--Charles Van Dorn on "Twenty One."
  Public outrage ended that show and almost all others game shows as the scandal of tipped answers spread, and the entire game show genre never fully recovered.
 Compounding the sensitivity of the flap over "Idol" is the issue of race.
   This is not the first time a talented black singer has been voted off in favor of less talented, but audience-pleasing, white singers, an infrequent but nonetheless noticeable pattern that dates back to season one.
   When Studdard, who is black, beat the white Aiken, some people even thought Fox was trying to right past wrongs.
   It may very well be a case, as Fox claims, of people voting on popularity and not talent; current contestant John Stevens can’t sing, but he is quite adorable. And it's very possible that the voters themselves are racist. But critics are suggesting that this pattern has popped up because Fox rigged the vote.
   Hudson, who is African American, was one of the three lowest vote-getters Wednesday along with LaToya London and Fantasia Barrino, widely considered the three most talented “Idol” finalists.
   “I had her in the top three, and I think a lot of people did,” says Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director at Horizon Media. “They’re concerned about having a tight race like last year. If that’s not the case, if they have the people who are popular but not talented, I don’t know how many will keep watching.”
   Fans couldn’t believe it, the judges couldn’t believe it, even host Ryan Seacrest was shocked, urging viewers to vote on talent and not popularity as cute but tone deaf (and white) Stevens got more votes than any of the women known as “The Three Divas.”
   First came the cries of vote fixing. Then came accusations of racism.
   That’s not surprising, considering the show’s history. In season one, Tamyra Gray, who is black, was voted off before the final in an upset that ranked just behind Hudson’s on the surprise scale.
   And last season producers booted fan favorite Frenchie Davis, also black, for posing topless for pictures for an internet site called “Daddy’s Little Girls” despite her mentioning the pictures on her application. In season one, producers let a white former stripper nonetheless stay on.
   Fox’s accusers worried that the network did not want all three black women making the final, perhaps worried a fickle white audience would tune out, though again, they have no evidence. Of course, a greater percentage of black households than white actually watch “Idol.”
   “I knew once they let [Ruben Studdard] win the last show they will not let another black person win," a fan said on the “Idol” web site. “They are intimidated by the talent and skills of the black singers.”
   The New York Post, like Fox owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., received a barrage of phone calls crying racism after Wednesday’s show.
   Callers to “The Tom Joyner Show,” one of the most popular black radio programs, implied that Fox had tipped the odds against black voters when it allowed people to start voting via text message last year, implying that white people were more likely to vote that way.
   “It seems inconceivable that 'Idol' results would turn out this way,” Los Angeles TV personality Sam Rubin said on KTLA. “You would almost expect [boxing promoter] Don King to replace Ryan, it looked so fixed.”
   Fox did not release the exact numbers for the vote, saying it was the closest in “Idol” history and releasing a statement from the show’s producer urging fans not to just assume the regular big vote getters didn’t need their help (just a few weeks back, Hudson was a top vote getter).
   It similarly ran into controversy last season, when Studdard beat Aiken in the then-closest-ever vote, after restating the winning margin twice and having it go from some 1,300 votes to 135,000. Investigators found Fox had done nothing wrong, though.
   In Fox’s defense, about 15,000 people in Hudson’s hometown of Chicago were without power after a Tuesday storm that prevented them from watching the show and calling in to vote, though that may not have been enough to save her.
   For now, the controversy may die away if London and Barrino steamroll into the finals, as fans expect.
   But should another of the two get the boot, fixing cries will likely skyrocket. And if fans suspect their votes count for nothing, Fox won’t come close to a 33 million-strong finale like last year’s.
   “Last year what drove it was the Clay-Ruben race,” Adgate says. “I just think, unless it’s a really tight race between Fantasia and LaToya, if you have John Stevens in the finals, I can see people not wanting to watch.”