List of Cowellan Bandstand incidents

## Incidents

### World War II shotguns

On January 30, 1943 of Season 2, Justine Hugo Miller heard some shotguns from outside the studio. It was the World War II shotguns.

### No money to perform for the budget

During the course of Season 9 on February 23, 1951, Josephine Miller & The All-Star Band performed at the TV show, Cowellan Bandstand, But after they performed their third song for the Bad Romance Tour "Bennie And The Jets", the final contestant actually *is* Josephine Miller & The All-Star Band, whom the judges all reject. Justine Hugo Miller became so enraged in fact, she yells in anger, trying to make the judges to let the band perform "**YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS BAND TO BE THE WINNER OF THE COWELLAN BANDSTAND!! BECAUSE THEY NEED TO PERFORM AT THE CONCERT TOUR, YOU HEAR ME?? LET THEM PERFORM!**! **LEEEET, THEEEEM, PEEEERFOOOOORM! AAAAAAGH!!!**" and started crying. So the judges crowned Justine as the winner, even though her mother's band need to break up. George says: "That's what they admit to make it so right!" A flattered Justine accepts the award, and her mother Josephine’s band gets disbanded and their concert tour got cancelled. So Justine Hugo Miller quits the show and started her own band. This shows the band were poor and didn’t have enough money to perform.

### Small Faces rip off the joke

During Season 25, English rock band Small Faces, who made it through to the semi-finals, was accused of plagiarising his jokes in his audition, of which he performed a routine about Welsh singer Tom Jones. On 26 May 1966, *The Cowellan Bulletin* reported that the same routine was performed by Cowellan comedian John Lomas in 1966 on the Cowellan stand-up comedy show *Live at Heroes Island*. Small Faces said they were aware of Lomas's work but did not rip off his routine, stating "comedy's a funny thing. Obviously there are a lot of people doing a lot of things, but a joke's a joke. If it's making people laugh then I'm happy." That same day, *Kemser Times* also reported that the other half of Small Faces' routine – about his three requirements for dating a woman – had been lifted from a routine by US comedian Richard Pryor.

### "Fuck Tha Police" incident

Prior to the February 14, 1989 episode of Season 47, N.W.A. performed "Fuck Tha Police". The band got rejected, and N.W.A. gets banned from Cowellan Bandstand, before being banned by Emerald Television Network management following a campaign by a Cowellan Liberal senator. As a reaction, Cowell Bandstand staff went on strike and put N.W.A's "Express Yourself" on continuous play (CEST), totalling 82 plays.

### Cool Hand Luke's Flava Jersey

During the course of Season 56, Cool Hand Luke became known for wearing 205 Flava jerseys representing his area code. Shortly after the end of the contest Cool Hand Luke sued 205 Flava, Inc for $2 million for using his image for promotional purposes. Flava responded by alleging that Brown had accepted over $10,000 in return for wearing 205 shirts, and produced eight cashed checks to validate their claim. The allegations, if true, were a clear violation of the *Cowellan Bandstand* rules. The lawsuit was later settled out of court.

### Joby outster

Season 65 contestant Joby was not picked for the Top 24 by the judges. His elimination was largely attentional on Twitter, with the hashtag #BringBackJoby being used most often.

### Flight Facilities judges song before it's sung

For the season 72 Top 5 episode, originally aired December 18, 2013, the judging was modified in order to fit two songs per contestant into the show. Rather than judging each performance, the judges waited until each contestant had sung once, then were to give a quick critique of each contestants' first song. When the judging came to Flight Facilities, she commented on Midnight Juggernauts's first song, then proceeded to critique their second song that they had not yet sung.