Jermaine Jones on His 'American Idol' Ousting

Jermaine Jones was ousted from American Idol for his criminal record on Wednesday night's show, but now Jermaine says that the program was aware of his background prior to his entrance into the competition.

Jermaine Jones Before American Idol Scandal

"I know that when I filled out my application I circled "yes" that I was previously arrested," Jermaine says in an interview on HLN's Showbiz Tonight. "They did a background check on me and there was some information that I had to obtain a lawyer to take care of before I could even be on the show."

In Wednesday's episode, the singer was called in to a room where executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick were waiting to give him the bad news.

"[Security] just let me know that production wanted to speak to me and that was that," said Jermaine, explaining that he was clueless as to the purpose of the conference, being under the impression that he'd taken care of any criminal charges that could impede his progress on the show.

"To an extent [I] feel a great disappointment because I trusted them, but it was a very humbling experience," Jermaine admitted.

There have been past instances on the show where contestants were eliminated for reasons pertaining to criminal charges that were done in private, away from cameras.

The fact that Jermaine's booting off the show was televised has caused rumors that his ousting may have been an attempt at boosting ratings. Jermaine hasn't tried to speculate as to the possibility of these rumors.

Jermaine Jones Dismissed From American Idol

Jermaine reportedly has four outstanding warrants and gave police fake names following run-ins with the law on March 5, 2011 and in November 2011.

Showbiz Tonight airs Sunday-Friday at 11 p.m. ET/PT.