Viewers accused Katy Perry of’mum-shaming’ an American Idol candidate after comments she made during an audition.
The California Girl singer performed with Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan as they put aspiring superstars to the test.
While one audition moved the judges to tears, others, notably Sara Beth Liebe, elicited a more divided response.
Sara revealed ahead of her performance that she had three children at the age of 25, prompting Katy to exclaim, ‘Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much!’
The mother-of-three then began with Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good, but Katy swiftly urged her to change songs.
‘That’s not enough,’ the 38-year-old judge said, asking Sara to try Bennie and the Jets.
She added: ‘Show us what your voice can do. Take it to the limit. No looking back. Sing it like it’s your new dream.’
Katy later likened Sara to a ‘comic strip character [that] just came to life’, and said: ‘If it’s not your dream, it’s not going to go far.
‘I also respect everyone who’s walking through that door who will lay down their life for this golden ticket’.
Katy, who voted ‘yes’ with Luke to advance Sara to the next round, said, ‘“Yeah, I guess, why not!’
Meanwhile, Lionel voted nay, cautioning Sara to ‘take it seriously’.
However, despite taking Sara to the next stage, viewers fumed at Katy for ‘mum-shaming’.
‘Boo to Katy Perry for mom shaming Sara Beth. Insinuating that she has been “laying on the table too much” to have 3 kids by age 25. A young mother following a dream while raising her children should be raised up not put down,’ one person wrote.
Another penned: ‘I just wish @katyperry wouldn’t have been so nasty to her. She was rude and kept on and on about it until Sara left! She is a little too much at times!’
‘I really do not like how Katy Perry just treated Sara Beth on #AmericanIdol I don’t watch this show at all and my tv was already on the channel but what I witnessed was not right. They let Katy Perry bully this woman on live national tv before she even started singing. So ugly,’ someone else wrote.
Another wrote: ‘I was totally embarrassed by Katy Perry’s insulting attitude. This young girl has real talent and it is your job to enable her to see her true potential.’
Some, on the other hand, defended Katy, with one saying, ‘Were the articles about Katy Perry harassing Sarah Beth even real? I’m now watching American Idol on Hulu, and I strongly oppose bullying. To be honest, I think she responded correctly.’
American Idol airs on Sunday and Monday nights on ABC.
Source My Celebrity Life.