'American Idol' Season 19 Controversies: Claudia Conway's participation to Luke Bryan's absence, here's a list
'American Idol' Season 19 will be ending on May 23 but audiences will remember this season for a long time to come. First things first, the talent this year surpassed the past couple of seasons. Everyone on the show, even the ones who had to leave in the audition stage were exceptional and when Lionel Richie said "What are the audiences gonna do?" in relation to them picking a winner, it was truly an understatement.
Grace Kinstler, Willie Spence and Chayce Beckham stand in the finale and will compete to make it to the end and take home a recording contract with Disney. Audiences will remember the exceptional performances that they will dole out in the finale, but the performances are not the only aspect that will stay with the audiences but it's also the controversies attached to the season and there are quite a lot. Here's a look at some of them.
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Caleb Kennedy leaves 'American Idol'
The 16-year-old from Spartanburg had to drop out of the competition in the Top 4 stage after a Snapchat video of him surfaced on the Internet which featured a man wearing a hoodie similar to the ones worn by the Ku Klux Klan members. While a lot of people sided with him saying he was not the one wearing the hoodie, a huge section of people took to the Internet to cancel him, some of them even mentioning they were from the same town as him and that the race allegations made against him were not for nothing.
Wyatt Pike drops out of the show unexpectedly
Wyatt Pike's ouster from the show for "personal reasons" is by far the biggest controversy this season. While there were rumors swirling around that he broke the Covid-19 quarantine bubble and visited his home in Utah, many believe there's much more to him leaving the show than what meets the eye.
Did Luke Bryan and Wyatt Pike fight?
Wyatt Pike was one of the frontrunners on the show. Not only was he praised for being a singer but also for his vocal styling and there was a high possibility that he could win the show because of his popularity among audiences as well. However, he just dropped out of the show suddenly and everyone was left wondering why.
According to E!, the Utah singer and Luke Bryan who is a judge on the show engaged in an actual fistfight that left him with a black eye. Remember he was absent from the panel for an episode? The report said the black eye was the actual reason behind the absence. Bryan's wife later came online to clear the rumors and said, “Trust me, he has Covid,” Caroline Bryan wrote on TikTok. “I kinda wish there was a fight. I’m sick of taking care of kids alone and sanitizing. I’m peeing Lysol!”
Claudia Conway's participation
Claudia Conway was a controversial personality even before she came on the show because of her relationship with her parents. Her affluent background was one of the reasons why her participation on the show was debated heavily with fans saying she didn't have the talent and was on the show just for the ratings. Her mother KellyAnn too appeared on the show, leading fans to further believe that the show was just exploiting Conway's trauma.
Benson Boone leaves 'American Idol'
This is not a controversy but more like an unsolved mystery. The TikTok star wowed all three judges during auditions but when he didn't appear for the Hollywood round, people started to talk and wonder why he was absent from the show. All hopes were crushed when he didn't even appear during the next couple of rounds and 'American Idol' fans are yet to find out why the popular social media star dropped out from the show, an incident that he's not addressed yet despite remaining active on social media.
