Luke Bryan Defends Katy Perry After American Idol Flak

Luke Bryan voiced support for Katy Perry amid the backlash over her behavior on American Idol.

The “Fireworks” singer came under fire during the latest season for various comments about contestants on the show. At one point, she made a “mom-shaming” joke about contestant and mother-of-three Sara Beth Liebe and was booed after she told another singer they were wearing too much glitter.

“Katy Perry’s been dealing with stuff like that her whole career,” Luke told Fox News. “We all get it… I mean, we’re judging kids that people at home fall in love with. We’re not gonna bat 1,000 as judges.”

Luke said he thinks judges “get set up” sometimes because it’s squarely on them to critique performances.

“As judges, you know, we kinda fall on the sword a lot of times,” he shared. “And get set up to where people can get very vocal on socials and stuff. My thing is, I think when me and Lionel [Richie] and Katy sit down at the desk, in our hearts, we’re doing the best we can.”

“Katy gets picked on for going out and trying to have fun making a TV show,” he added. “You can’t be so safe in the moment that you’re so homogenized, you can’t ever go for a joke. Or go for a fun moment. Sometimes, you just gotta say stuff. It may be my year next year.”

Luke then noted how “conditioned” and “calloused” entertainers are to backlash and said: “It makes me appreciate her even more, just how big of a scale she’s had to deal with that her whole career.”

Katy, for her part, hasn’t directly commented on the backlash, but we’ll let you know when she does. In the meantime, you can read Luke’s full interview here.