Late 'Idol' contestant still creating buzz on the Internet

Even after her death, fans are still arguing about Alexis Cohen, the three-time "American Idol" contestant whose initial post-audition, expletive-deleted, infamous performance last year made her notorious on the Internet.

After her hit-and-run death early Saturday in Seaside Heights, N.J., one Internet fan said that he "admired her tenacity, even though I didn't agree with her methods.

Many simply wrote "R.I.P."

Known as "Glitter Girl," Cohen, 25, was found lying lifeless in the street about 4 a.m. by two passers-by, who called 9-1-1. She was taken to Community Medical Center, in Tom's River, N.J., where she was pronounced dead at 6:35 a.m.

Her death was ruled a homicide as a result of "chest and abdominal injuries, along with a closed head injury secondary to a motor-vehicle collision," said Michael Mohel, deputy chief of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

In late 2007, Cohen auditioned as a tribute to her late father on her dad's favorite show, "American Idol." She belted out a throaty, Grace Slick-like rendition of the Jefferson Airplane classic "Somebody to Love."

She told the three-judge panel that she was attending Montgomery County Community College, in hopes of becoming a veterinarian.

While her performance was passable, the panel dismissed her as a contestant. But the snarky comments of "Idol" host Simon Cowell got to her.

Immediately afterward backstage, she said: "He's a big fat bad word."

Upset by Cowell's smugness, eye-rolling and mockery of her sincerity, Cohen said: "What an egotistical . . ." and then caught herself.

She later told Inquirer TV critic David Hiltbrand that she'd been goaded by a camera crew after she said, "Why do I want to give the camera the finger?"

She told Hiltbrand that a cameraman then said: "Go ahead. Flip us off. We love fingers. Come on, you know you wanna."

And so began her legendary tirade, which gained her instant infamy on the Internet, after that "American Idol" episode aired on Jan. 15, 2008.

The rant helped boost the popular TV show's ratings and then went viral on the Internet. The show's camera crew then followed Cohen to Allentown, videotaping her and her mother living in a studio apartment with two cats and a dog.

Her life's dream instantly changed from becoming a vet to becoming an entertainer, an actress and singer.

On her MySpace page, she posted photos of her flipping a bird, and she appeared in a video as a standup comedienne, saying "I'm not crazy, I'm just f------ opinionated."

In an attempt to improve her image this year, she auditioned again, singing Madonna's "Like a Prayer," at the Meadowlands, and her mother, Mindy Darrow, told New York Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams that Cohen tried out a third time in Boston.

Of the driver who killed her daughter, Darrow said "When I get him, I own him."

Alexis "was a 25-year-old with big dreams," Darrow told Adams. "She could've achieved her dreams."

Yesterday, the RhettandLinc. com Web site posted a note about Cohen:

"She was very kind, fun and winsome. We'll miss her and never forget she was kind enough to be a guest on a live Internet show two weeks after releasing this video." They sang her rant:

"I'll make it one day. One day. Somehow, some way.

"And I hope that someone sees that I have some talent somewhere.

"Whether it be in acting or singing.

"Or whether it be the fact that I have the chutzpah, and the ?,

"To be able to get up and talk.

"To be able to say what I'm thinking. To be able to say what I mean.

"To be able to speak the heart. To be able to . . . talk. To be able to lead.

"I will be victorious. Always be victorious. All rising!" *