American Idol Scandal! Pacitti Disqualified, Barton Back In

Joanna Pacitti can’t catch a break. Literally.

After making it through last night to American Idol’s round of 36, the 23-year-old aspiring popster was sent packing this morning, disqualified because of her previous professional experience—and an apparently close relationship with 19 Television, the company that produces the hit Fox reality competition.

“It has been determined that Joanna Pacitti is ineligible to continue in the competition. American Idol contestant Felicia Barton has replaced Ms. Pacitti as part of the top 36,” reads an editor’s note in a Fox press release from early this morning.

Barton was shown getting the boot during last night’s “green-mile episode” in which contestants participated in a “sing-off” in the hopes of being a semifinalist.

Pacitti made the cut. However a number of tabloid reports surfaced in recent days that the singer wasn’t exactly the amateur she claimed to be, in violation of Idol’s rules.