Alama responds to 'Arab Idle' gossip: Judge Exit-Stage-Left?

Ragheb Alama remains ambivalent about a rumor that he has been 'eliminated' from the Judge deck on Arab Idol 2, with his curt comment serving as a response to his enquiring fans. Idol Gossip? The first Arab Idol closed after a season premier swirling in disputes between the Lebanese singer and main judge, Ragheb Alama, and Emirati singer and fellow judge, Ahlam.  Since then a number of stories have been working the rumor mill indicating that Ahlam might be eliminated from the second season of the singing show, despite Ahlam’s denial. Recently, it was reported that the MBC channel had a meeting in Solidere Beirut with Ragheb’s brother, Khader Alama, and Ahlam’s husband, Mubarak Al Hajeri, playing mediators to solve the problem. This high profile meeting was facilitated by MBC's big guns Samar Aqrouq and Nadine Tarabeih. Not before lengthy deliberations and negotiations, Ragheb was demoted from being a Judge in Arab Idol based on Ahlam’s request. One of Ragheb’s fans tried to get more of an insight into the veracity of this 'news'. She used his personal account to probe directly and wrote: "We learn from to the meeting between Ragheb's brother Khader and Ahlam's husband Al Hajeri that you will not be heading the jury of Arab Idol 2. The superstar rejoined briefly with, “Funny news,” without leaving any further remarks or insights on the matter.