Katy Perry is facing some “fireworks” over her alleged bullying of a contestant on this season’s “American Idol.”
Sara Beth Liebe, a 25-year-old mother of three, was the contestant in question.
During the last episode of the Sunday night talent competition, the 38-year-old judge was rude to Liebe. She had revealed to the judges that her singing expertise was basically in the church choir.
“Is this your dream?” Perry asked the contestant, who appeared rattled and simply replied, “Um.”
“If it’s not your dream, you might need to leave because there’s a lot of dreams behind you,” Perry added.
The young mother said that she was “still processing” being away from her children.
She eventually began singing her first song, “You Know I’m No Good” by Amy Winehouse.
Viewers of the show took issue with how Katy Perry treated Liebe on the show. Perry seemed unimpressed by her first song and told her to sing her second, “Bennie and the Jets.”
“Show us what your voice can do,” she added. “Take it to the limit. No looking back. Sing it like it’s your new dream. More of that! Hold it out.”
Perry then called Liebe the “Accidental American Idol.”
“Look, if it’s not your dream, it’s not gonna go far because I also respect everyone that’s walking through that door who will lay down their life for this golden ticket [to Hollywood],” Perry explained.
Perry and fellow judge Luke Bryan did vote for the mom to move on to the next round, while Lionel Richie had to go “with his gut” and didn’t.
Fans took to Twitter to express their displeasure with Perry.
“Katy. Come back down to reality,” one account posted.
“Katy Perry being a mean girl to Sara Beth,” another user added.
While another asked, “Why was Katy bullying that girl?”
One account tweeted, “Boo to Katy Perry for mom shaming Sara Beth. Insinuating that she has been ‘laying on the table too much’ to have 3 kids by age 25. A young mother following a dream while raising her children should be raised up not put down. #AmericanIdol.”
“I just wish Katy wouldn’t have been so nasty to her,” another added. “She was rude and kept on and on about it until Sara left! She is a little too much at times.”
Another account accused Perry of having “some major attitude.”
Check some of it out:
ABC viewers hit out at American Idol judge Katy Perry following her behaviour when contestant Sara Beth entered the studio https://t.co/gxWFvRePyC
— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) March 6, 2023
