American Idol judges step in with surprise move after being outraged over "biased viewer voting"
Live television comes with its own set of surprises, and the reality musical talent show American Idol is no stranger to such surprises. On Monday's live episode of the show, the judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie pulled a move that completely blew away the audience, including their host Ryan Seacrest.
Two particular contestants on the show, drag queen Ada Vox and Jurnee were excluded from the top 10 and had to be saved by the judges, which sparked an outrage among millions of fans of the show since both Ada and Jurnee are openly gay women of color.
The only reason why Jurnee and Ada got in was because the judges on the show have the power to bump up four contestants who are not voted through by the public. After going through Ada and Jurnee's performances which were granted to them as a chance to redeem themselves, the judges just couldn't resist saving the wonderful musicians.
“I don’t know everything,” Perry told Ada. “But I think we do know talent when we see it.” The judges asked Ada to take a seat with the Top 10, no questions asked. The move even left host Ryan Seacrest baffled, because of the unanimous stand that the judges took against the discrimination.
Perry also expressed her frustration that Jurnee, a lesbian performer, was not voted as safe by the public. "Never have I ever seen a more qualified woman for the job and still not get the job. What’s the disconnect, America?" said Perry, before the judges saved Jurnee too on their own discretion.
“When the Ada moment came, it wasn’t just one person’s idea,” Perry said to reporters after the show. “We all looked at each other and we saw the math … excuse us, we’re going to step in now. Were we allowed to do that? We found out we were.”
“We messed up the timetable a bit, but you know what it was, we felt so strongly about it, we didn’t have to wait for that vote,” added Richie. “Enough was enough and you put your foot down when it’s real,” said Perry. “We stand for truth and for justice.”
Even Twitter saw outrage. The eliminations sparked a range of views and opinions from fans and followers of the reality TV show worldwide. Most of these people were simply agitated with the racial bias that the show has been known for in the past, and how that's changing with the times.
