Todrick Hall Instagram – When I got eliminated from American, I was so heartbroken. I learned a very harsh reality about being in the entertainment industry even in 2010. Being black in Hollywood is hard. I wanted to be myself, but the producers kept saying I needed to “appeal to middle America” and I interpreteded that as “don’t get too comfortable or too gay on Fox babes.” I’d hear the other contestants be praised and rewarded for mediocrity, and I was criticized for my creativity. When Ryan Seacrest told me I was voted out, I just immediately thought of all the people I felt I had let down by not making it further on the show. But, in the car on the way back from Fox my mom was like, “Don’t you let these people see you holding your head down. Go congratulate them, you’re just getting started.” I used to HATE when they’d say “American Idol’s” Todrick Hall, as if I belonged to them. I used to be so upset, but then one day it clicked to me…Todrick, if you’re SO upset by it then do something so great that they don’t have to use that name anymore.  So I decided to start a youtube channel, my friends Kali and Sheena asked me to go watch the new “Sex and the City” movie and as I was driving to them in my silver Ford Focus I saw McDonalds and started immediately singing what my order would be, by the time I got to Sheena’s house, I had written this entire song. I begged them to learn it and sing it with me and they agreed. We filmed it and shockingly the employee got the order right, tbh she’s the true star of this video. I posted it and went to watch the movie, when I got out…I had 10,000 views. For the next few days, I lived on my laptop clicking refresh over and over again. Within a week the video had gotten 1 million views, and people started stopping me at Wal-Mart saying “Hey, aren’t you that….” I’d stop them and say “Yes, I was on American Idol!” They’d say “No, you’re the McDonalds guy!” Mission accomplished, and the rest is history! Arlington TX