There's a bit of a Game Theory mistake being made here. When you have to leverage Legal Avenues to get money you're owed, you're in effect taking a hair cut on that value. Depending how annoying the other side wants to be, it might cost you more than you'd likely recover even if you get legal fees covered. The non-disparagement wasn't because Idol should, but it was mostly likely because they were sitting on money and they could extract a concession for not being assholes about it. While both unethical and, in some places, probably illegal, it doesn't mean they couldn't. It's a topic that comes up when you have money, generally, and you can simply be put in a situation where paying someone off is the more prudent action. "Positional Leverage" I think is a version of the technical term in negotiation analysis.
Insert the obvious jokes here about the situation, though this is common practice with any asshole business people, quite regardless of race or religion.