Patti LaBelle thinks some people shouldn't be on "American Idol" — and she's not talking about the contestants.

"Some of the judges, I don't think they're qualified to even judge," she said yesterday.

The veteran R&B diva wouldn't say which judge she thought was lacking on the hit Fox show, which has Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres picking America's top singers. Tuesday's "Idol" episode saw 12 female semifinalists competing.

LaBelle said she was asked to be a judge on the series before Paula Abdul; a rep for the show had no comment on whether she was. LaBelle feels like the judges' comments to the contestants are too mean.

"The comments that were made, they could make you, like, wanna kill yourself," the 65-year-old singer said.

AIKEN TO SPEAK FOR HIMSELF AT GAY EVENT

More than a year after disclosing he is gay, Clay Aiken is speaking before a gay-rights event in his hometown.

Aiken will deliver a speech about gay rights this weekend at the Human Rights Campaign Carolinas gala in Raleigh, N.C., The News & Observer of Raleigh reported yesterday. Actress Meredith Baxter, who recently said she is a lesbian, also will deliver a speech.

The 31-year-old Raleigh native, pop singer and 2003 "American Idol" runner-up said he wrote his own speech after remarks provided for him proved too political, including a slam aimed at former President George W. Bush.

"I don't feel like this is the place to be horribly politically charged and bash people and talk about the wrongs that have been done," he said.

OCTOMOM DONE — UNTIL THE ‘FAR’ FUTURE

Octuplets mother Nadya Suleman says she doesn't plan on having more children unless she gets married someday "far" in the future. She says if that ever happens, she would only have one child.

Widely known as "Octomom," Suleman has six older children. She appeared yesterday on ABC's daytime talk show "The View."

All of her children were conceived by in vitro fertilization, and she has been criticized for having a huge family as a single mother on public assistance.

SONGWRITERS DIDN’T WANT A HIT THIS HOT

Police charged a man with arson yesterday in a fire at the music company offices of a Grammy-winning songwriting team who produced dozens of best-selling records from R&B stars including Teddy Pendergrass, Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls and the O'Jays.

Christopher Cimini, 27, is charged with arson and other counts in the 7:30 a.m. Sunday blaze at Philadelphia International Records.

"We'll bounce back," co-founder Leon Huff said. "We wrote the song — 'Only The Strong Survive.' "

— Advertiser News Services