"Idol Gives Back" Update: Mariah Duets with Marvin Gaye? Ellen Out?

• Apr 2, 2008 09:14 PM ET
• by The Idol Chatters

In a Wednesday conference call with reporters, American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe offered updates on this year's " Idol Gives Back" fundraising effort, to air Wednesday, April 9. For starters, Lythgoe cleared the air on talk that Mariah Carey would perform a duet with the late Marvin Gaye, a la Celine Dion and Elvis Presley a year ago. "Unfortunately, it's not [happening]," he shared. "We couldn't get the rights to music with Marvin, so we had to cancel it." (Chalk up one unsettling/eerie bullet dodged.)

Lythgoe also addressed the breaking news that Ellen DeGeneres would not be able to shoulder half of the hosting duties for the evening. "Ellen, we were told, couldn't do it due to a personal production pressure," he said. Filling her shoes/sneakers will be... Ryan Seacrest! Will the seemingly busiest man in show business be worked even harder? Lythgoe shrugged off the notion. "We've got a lot of co-hosts, so it isn't like last year," he explained. "There are a lot of really good people coming on that stage to introduce people." - Matt Mitovich

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