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Who is Erika Perry? Meet 'American Idol' contestant from Orange County who was slammed for her 'fake accent'

Identifying as 'extraterrestrial' the sexy and tall aspiring singer from the OC decided to sing Katy Perry's hit song 'ET' for the auditions and fans thought she should have left the show

Erika Perry aka ET auditioned for 'American Idol'. Even though it looked like she won't make it outside the audition room with a golden ticket in hand when she began singing at the audition, Erika walked out of the room with a yes from Katy Perry, a no from Luke Bryan, and a "very sparing yes" from Lionel Richie. 

Erika came to the auditions for two reasons: to find a soulmate and "to be a star". She grooved and moved in a video package that the audience got to saw before she went in for her performance and it was evident that she was going to be one of the fillers that come in just for fun but it turned out to be a completely different scenario. 

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Who is Erika Perry ?

The Orange County native had just broken up with her boyfriend Stefan who thought she had no drive and motivation to do anything in life. "I am here to probe him, all his friends and family, all the haters in school because growing up all the kids just judged me for being eccentric, and weird, and skinny with big eyes," Erika said in one breath before being asked to stop by Katy who just wanted her to save all her energy for the audition. 

Erika began strumming her guitar and sang Katy's 2011 hit 'ET' but in a way that the judges couldn't make sense of any of the words that were coming out of her mouth. It wasn't long before Katy asked her to stop and Richie asked Erika if it was her style or some kind of a gimmick. "She's probably never been given one constructive criticism in her life," Katy said before going ahead to give Erika some honest feedback. 

Katy asked her to lose the guitar and heels, take a breath and gave her 30 seconds to perform. Erika once again began to sing but still wasn't enunciating the words enough and embellishing too much. Katy asked her to lose all of that and give her pure performance and Erika finally was able to let her true voice shine, the one that indeed left Katy impressed. "You are freaky. I think you are weird. I think you are a little bit annoying," Katy said. Taken aback, Perry asked if she wasn't likable to which Katy said she was and that she needed to believe it and stop putting on a facade because she was good enough without all those gimmicks.  

Erika got the golden ticket and fans couldn't believe their eyes when it happened. "Stop it with this bananis and avocadis singing! You do not sound good! Singing with a fake accent and pronouncing your words weirdly does not mean you can sing!!! #AmericanIdol" wrote a fan. "#AmericanIdol I can not believe you sent Erika Perry thru and not the Jingle guy. What the heck. Now I think you are tone deaf. That ET was terrible. I am really confused now. Bring back Jingle writer" wrote another fan referring to Tom McGovern who wrote a song about the judges. "Dear God. Get erika perry of my tv before i s*oot myself. @AmericanIdol #AmericanIdol" another fan tweeted. "Wait a minute. So they send Erika through but not the fireman? She couldn’t sing and he could. I just don’t understand that #AmericanIdol" tweeted another fan referring to Jeremias Williams, the fireman from Apopka who left without the ticket as well. 

Catch new episodes of 'American Idol' Sundays at 8 pm ET on ABC.