Luke Bryan has come to the defense of his fellow American Idol judge Katy Perry after a season of backlash against the “Firework” singer.
Perry, who has served as a judge on the hit reality competition show since 2018, has received criticism this season for some of the comments she’s made toward contestants. At one point, she was even booed by the live audience for telling singer Nutsa Buzaladze to tone down the glitter.
Speaking to Fox News, Bryan said Perry has “been dealing with stuff like that her whole career,” noting that he understands why viewers have such strong reactions to them on the show.
“We all get it,” Bryan stated. “I mean, we’re judging kids that people at home fall in love with. We’re not gonna bat 1,000 as judges. I think we get set up. As judges, you know, we kinda fall on the sword a lot of times and get set up to where people can get very vocal on socials and stuff.”
“My thing is, I think when me and Lionel and Katy sit down at the desk, in our hearts, we’re doing the best we can,” he added.
One moment that drew criticism this season was when Perry joked with contestant Sarah Beth Liebe, a mother of three, that she had been “laying on the table too much.”
Liebe, who later quit the show, made a TikTok video where she accused the “Dark Horse” hitmaker of “mom-shaming.” However, Liebe later praised the show and implied she and Perry had patched things up.
“Katy gets picked on for going out and trying to have fun making a TV show,” Bryan continued. “You can’t be so safe in the moment that you’re so homogenized; you can’t ever go for a joke. Or go for a fun moment. Sometimes you just gotta say stuff. It may be my year next year.”
He concluded, “It makes me appreciate her even more, just how big of a scale she’s had to deal with that her whole career.”
