Katy Perry creepily tricked a 19-year-old singer into kissing her at 'American Idol': "That's so..."
Katy Perry has had her fair share of controversial moments while judging the 'American Idol', she quit the show last year after receiving severe backlash from the viewers. In 2018, Perry was involved in a cringeworthy moment on the show when she kissed a 19-year-old contestant Benjamin Glaze during the audition round. "Have you kissed a girl and liked it?" Luke Bryan asked the teen boy. "No, I've never been in a relationship," the young artist replied. "Really?" Perry asked surprised. "I can't kiss a girl without being in a relationship," the contestant stated. "What on the cheek?" Perry then motioned Glaze to come over and give her a peck on the cheek. "You didn't even make the smush sound," she protested as he kissed her. The same instant the 'Roar' hitmaker tricked him into kissing on the lips amid cheers from the fellow judges.
The viewers were left in disgust over her impromptu and creepy behavior, they gave mixed reactions, "Imagine being the first person you kissed was Katy Perry. Bro will tell this to his grandchildren," a fan commented while being impressed. "He has the biggest flex "My first kiss was Katy Perry," a viewer joked. "Bro won the American Idol without performance," another fan mocked. "It's so unfair how badly they treat ugly contestants and how good they treat good-looking contestants," an online user complained. However, few other fans had an opposite view, "Now imagine a male artist doing that to a 19-year-old girl contestant," a netizen pointed out.
"That poor boy, he saved that kiss for a special person, but she's famous and that doesn't matter anyway," another fan lamented. Glaze later exclusively told The New York Times, that he felt 'uncomfortable' at the moment and also desired a memorable first kiss. "I was raised in a conservative family and I was uncomfortable immediately," he said. "I wanted my first kiss to be special." However, later in a now-deleted post on Facebook Glaze accepted that he wasn't sexually harassed by the 'Dark Horse' singer. "I am very honored and thankful to have been a part of American Idol... I do wish I would have performed better at the moment."
"I should have picked another song to sing and calmed myself down regardless of the kiss," he continued. "I should have been able to perform under pressure. I do not think I was sexually harassed by Katy Perry and I am thankful for the judges' comments and critiques. I was uncomfortable in the sense of how I have never been kissed before and was not expecting it," he concluded. Ironically, the young man then blamed the media for twisting his views and words about the viral moment. In a bizarre twist to the tale, Glaze was recently arrested for possessing child abuse material. According to People, he was arrested by Tulsa law authorities after a month-long investigation in October 2024. “During the search, a smartphone was recovered that was found to contain over 700 images and videos of child sexual abuse material,” the police said. He is currently being detained at the Tulsa County jail.