KUALA LUMPUR: Akademi Fantasia 2015 permanent judge Rozita Che Wan has chosen to call it quits following stinging criticisms from fans of the reality show on social media.
The actress from Kedah is one of two permanent members of the jury panel which judges the performances of the show's student-contestants at its weekly Sunday concerts held at the Shah Alam Municipal Council (MBSA) Auditorium.
The other permanent member is music director and two-time former principal Datuk Ramli MS.
AF 2015 principal Edry Abdul Halim said it was unfortunate that Rozita who is more popularly known as Che Ta, had decided to leave her job as permanent judge, but he felt it was “for the better”.
“In a few instances, my team of instructors and I have felt that Rozita made irrelevant comments which had nothing to do with the performance of our student-contestants,” said Edry.
While Edry felt that the show’s fans “ran her down” on social media, he said judges should be open to criticism from the show’s academic team, as the academic team which he heads deals with the student-contestants on a daily basis.
Rozita announced that she was leaving her job as permanent judge after the last concert on Sept 13 because of “harsh criticisms” from fans on social media, some of whom called her a “useless judge”.
The rumour mill went into overdrive with suggestions that Edry had slammed Rozita for some of her comments, but the principal denied doing so.
“Rozita and I are in talking terms, and in no way did I ‘attack’ her for her comments. I merely told her that at times she made comments that were not relevant to my students’ weekly performances.”
Meanwhile, Astro Ria channel manager Raqim Ahmad said the station accepted and respected Rozita’s decision and was in the process of finding a replacement for her.
He said: “While fans may not have agreed with Rozita’s comments on the contestants, each judge was free to arrive at his or her own opinions on their weekly performances.”
He said Rozita’s viewpoints on each student-contestant was based on her personal experiences as an actress and such comments were a subjective matter.