Prodigy Mania controversies

The American children's singing competition show Prodigy Mania has generated many controversial epiphanies over the years.

Voting controversies
Voting has been one of the biggest sources of controversy with Prodigy Mania becoming embroiled in numerous controversies in various editions over the voting process and its results.

Season 1 phone scam
During Level 6 in the inaugural season, phone scam operation based in Van Nuys was discovered, in which people were tricked into believing that viewers could vote for their favorites through a 718 number, rather than the 212 number used on the show. They were then instructed to call a 917 number to vote. This allowed the company to charge callers nationwide from $1.49 to nearly $4.

Season 2 voting numbers mix-up
During Level 5, three of the contestants had their numbers mixed up with the wrong numbers appearing on the screen, resulting in millions of votes being voided.

Overtime broadcast
Season 2 went over its scheduled 3-hour time limit and ended at 10:08 that evening. A number of DVR users nationwide claimed the recording ended before Cassidy McGrath was announced the winner shortly after the planned end time. The executives at NV4 apologized, and during season 3, host ??? warned viewers that the show "might run overtime."

During the July 7, 2017 episode in season 3, the show ended nearly 5 minutes past its set ending time. This caused a number of viewers at home to completely miss the episode's results.

Marcus Holt's proposed withdrawal from New York Giants football game
Immediately after winning season 3, Marcus Holt was arranged to sing the U.S. national anthem at a New York Giants football game the following week. Holt considered withdrawing from the game, which was held at East Rutherford's MetLife Stadium, saying that "I wasn't planning to sing the U.S. national anthem at a sports event in the near future" and added, "I'm not going anywhere near a stadium outside of Philadelphia, not even to sing an important theme song." Eventually, Holt got special permission to withdraw, leading to Sasha Sharp singing the U.S. national anthem instead.