Mayfield man on "America's Got Talent"

Two reactions to this video.

1. Congratulations to Kevin Skinner, 35, of Mayfield. You made your hometown proud, and could definitely win it all. Keep up the singing, and I for one will be rooting for you.

2. When will national networks learn that ridiculing Southern people really sticks in our craws? I'll save most of my venom for a column, but I'm about ready to fillet the three twit hosts, and NBC's "America's Got Talent" producers for thinking entertainment means laughing at anything rural, agricultural and Southern.

Just one quick note: aside from hamming it up each week on this show, I'm sure the judges (Sharon Osbourne, David Hasselhoff and second rate Simon Cowell on the end, a.k.a. Piers Morgan) are semi-respectful people. So I'm going to assume their laughs, head shakes and arrogant, baiting questions about chicken catching aimed at Skinner in this video was an attempt to ham it up for the network.

Maybe they thought, "We'll play up the 'we don't respect this guy' attitude so we can later be in awe of his singing ability, and make the viewers at home feel like Kevin really stuck it to us good tonight."

Well I say cram it. Had Skinner spoke in a British accent, would Osbourne have laughed at him the moment he opened his mouth?

Would Hasselhoff had smirked at Skinner's job had it been some bottom feeder, mindless office gig?

Would any of the judges have taken Skinner more seriously had the Mayfield man spoke in a Northern accent?

And don't get me started with their little country instrumental as Skinner walked on stage.

I don't want any of this to take away from what Skinner is accomplishing. But the show hosts and producers shouldn't have taken so much away from Skinner from the start.