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"\"&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/category/american-idol/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;American Idol&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;\" reject &lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/person/jacob-lusk/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jacob Lusk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is telling friends he's not to blame for the TERRIBLE song choices that led to his elimination this week ... insisting he got BAD advice from &lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/person/jimmy-iovine/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jimmy Iovine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img alt=\"0506_jacob_jimmy_EX_Getty_01\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2011/05/06/0506-jacob-jimmy-ex-getty-01.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;TMZ spoke with a source extremely close to Lusk ... who tells us Jacob never wanted to perform the Jordin Sparks /Chris Brown duet, \"&lt;strong&gt;No Air&lt;/strong&gt;\" on Wednesday's show ... but Iovine pressured him into it. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We're told Lusk really wanted to perform the &lt;strong&gt;Gnarls Barkley&lt;/strong&gt; hit, \"&lt;strong&gt;Crazy&lt;/strong&gt;\" -- but Iovine was so insistent on \"No Air\" that he basically \"beat it into his brain\" until Lusk finally gave in and agreed to perform the song. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;During the show, Randy Jackson told Lusk, \"I don&amp;#8217;t think that&amp;#8217;s the direction for you ... I don't think anybody on this stage should be doing duet songs.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;{{tmz_video_0}}Sources connected to the production tell us ... Executive Producer &lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/person/nigel-lythgoe/\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nigel Lythgoe&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; has told every contestant the decision on final song choice is made by the singer ... and NOT&amp;#160; the mentor. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;!-- relatedlinks --&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2011/05/06/american-idol-jimmy-iovine-jacob-lusk-song-reject-elimination-song-chioce/2/>