‘American Idol’ Contestant Reacts to a ‘Hurtful’ ‘Mom Shaming’ Joke From Katy Perry [Watch]
A 25-year-old mother of three named Sarah Beth brought raw talent to her American Idol audition earlier this month, impressing the judges with lively covers of Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" and Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets." But it was an awkward interaction with judge Katy Perry that left social media buzzing after the clip of Beth's audition aired.
When she first presented herself to the judges, all three commented on how young she looked — Bryan pegged her age at 16, and Perry quickly concurred — and Beth accepted their comments as compliments, noting that she has three children. At that point, Perry reacted in exaggerated shock, fanning herself and leaning over the judges' table.
"If Katy lays on the table I think I'm gonna pass out," Beth joked.
"Honey, you've been laying on the table too much," Perry shot back, in an apparent dig at the number of children Beth has.
Beth laughed it off, but after viewers started criticizing Perry's comment, the young performer hopped on TikTok to say her piece, acknowledging that she felt it "wasn't super kind" of Perry to make that joke.
"I don't have too much to say on my feelings on it because I feel like it's probably pretty self-explanatory," Beth says after the fact. "It was embarrassing to have that on TV, and it was hurtful, and, you know, that's that."
Beyond that, the singer says she wants to underscore the importance of women supporting other women.
"And I think that mom shaming is super lame. And I think that it's hard enough to be a mom and it's hard enough to be a woman," she continues. "And I also wanted to take this opportunity to say that I see all of the young moms, and just moms in general, who have commented on all of the videos and posts and everything, and I just wanted to say that I see you and I hear you and I'm grateful for you."
She concludes her point by saying that no mom deserves to feel bad about her life choices: "I think if you're a good mama and you love your babies, that's all that really matters," she says. "Other comments just don't feel necessary."
Luke Bryan voted for Beth to move on to the next episode with an emphatic "yes," saying "I just love your energy." Meanwhile, Lionel Richie voted against her moving on, explaining that he felt her artistry wasn't quite developed enough yet.
Perry was the tie-breaker vote and she ultimately voted to send Beth to Hollywood with a Golden Ticket. "I mean ... yeah! I guess. Why not?" Perry said.
American Idol airs on Sunday nights on ABC.