AMERICAN IDOLATRY Clive Davis (Photo: Getty Images)

Yesterday afternoon, Clive Davis accepted the Music Visionary Award at a UJA-Federation of New York luncheon for the Music for Youth initiative, and as pop music's reigning arch-duke of divas, he was received with reverence, flattery, and, inevitably, rumor-mongering. Enter Kelly Clarkson, the former American Idol turned ingrate turned apologist.

Davis, the 75-year-old chairman and CEO of the BMG Label Group, fielded reporters' questions with characteristic aplomb, dismissing ever-so-wryly Clarkson's very public tantrum and disses as non-issues: "Kelly's been an ... important artist from the very beginning, so I'm delighted to take her back on track, and we'll be gettin' to work on her next album real soon." Onward and upward!

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