Online Petition begins to keep Linda Martin as a judge on You're A Star

Seriously

A petition has been set up requesting that Screentime Shinawil - the production company responsible for “You’re A Star” renew Linda Martin’s contract as a judge on the popular T.V. talent show.

The petition also requests that the above named company make a public apology to Linda for the way they have treated her.

It was prompted by all the recent speculation which then became confirmation that Linda is indeed not going to be a part of the programme when it returns in only a few weeks time.

The producers apparently want “to freshen things up in the light of poor ratings this year” and it would seem they intend to do this by replacing Linda Martin.
Louis Walsh said last week that if it turned out to be true that there should be a campaign to keep her on the show and is quoted as also saying that in his opinion they would never get anyone better than her.

Alisa Rose, herself a former singer now involved in artist management has decided to take him up on his suggestion and said “Immediately I heard the news, I thought people should protest against this, apart from the fact that Linda is very popular and in no way should be blamed for the poor ratings, it is absolutely disgraceful the way it slowly leaked to the media and was not dealt with privately.
No one deserves to be treated like this and particularly not someone who has represented and done their country proud in the genre of their talent.
Would we treat any of our great sportsmen this way? I think not.
Whatever your personal opinion of the Eurovision it is a fact that Linda won the competition for Ireland and she should be shown respect.”

The Campaign is beginning with an online petition and Alisa Rose who lives in Co. Cavan is hoping to link up with people in other parts of the country who will assist with a paper petition for the less computer literate. She is also contacting prominent figures in Irish showbusiness and former “You’re a Star” contestants urging them to get behind the petition and add their signatures.

“I have recently started my own management company and in my experience it’s really difficult for women in this business. There’s a lot of discrimination towards us. I mean just look at how many female band managers there are in Ireland, very few and from what I can see the ratio of male to female singers is much greater on the Irish music scene today.

That’s why the few successful ladies we have should be appreciated, like Linda Martin. She’s a great role model to the young acts starting out and to the not so young who need the motivation of seeing someone maintain their career well over the years. She looks fabulous plus she has a wealth of experience to share and I’m absolutely positive that the young ladies in particular would do well to listen to her advice because who better to advise them than someone who has been there themselves, knows the pitfalls and always handles herself professionally.”

Alisa Rose is interested in hearing from anyone who would like to get involved in the campaign as it builds momentum over the next few weeks.

At the moment the petition can be linked by emailing lindamartinpetition@hotmail.com.

“I think it’s so important that we not only let Screentime Shinawil know that we want Linda back but also that we let Linda know that she has so much support whether it be “You’re a Star” or some other project that will be her future” Alisa Rose concludes.