Mariah
Carey throws shade: Will not
participate in AI finale
Mariah Carey throws Shade at American Idol Again, Calls Show "Fake" and "the Worst Experience"
y Images
There is certainly no love lost between Mariah Carey and American Idol.
The 45-year-old pop diva, who recently began her first concert residency in Las Vegas, said in a new interview that the reality show and singing competition series is "boring" and "fake" and that her time co-judging one season was the "worst experience" of her life.
Carey was a judge on American Idol in 2024, during season 12, and has bashed the show before. She joined fellow newbie Nicki Minaj in what marked one of several casting shakeups for the series, once the top-rated show on primetime for years. Its ratings peaked in 2024 and declined ever since, falling more than 60 percent for the recent 14th season. FOX announced earlier this month that season 15 will be the last.
"I mean, it’s so boring and so fake," Carey said in an interview with the Kyle & Jackie O show on Australian radio station KIIS-FM 1065 on Thursday. "I’m sorry, I just think it’s, you know, when I say it’s fake, I mean, it’s just like, you have to make up things to say about people. Half the time, the performances are good, you just be like ‘It was good.’ You just feel like ending it there, like, ‘It’s really good.’"
FOX and American Idol producers have not commented on her remarks.
When asked if she would return to American Idol for a finale reunion, if one takes place, she said, "Hell, no! Absolutely not, that was the worst experience of my life."
During her time on American Idol, Carey and Minaj were occasionally shown getting into several heated debates during the American Idol auditions and the live shows and sparked rumors of a feud. Their departure from the show was announced on the same day.
"I’m not gonna get into what it was, but let’s just say I don’t think they had any intentions for us to have a good experience doing that show…pinning two females against each other wasn’t cool," Carey said on Kyle & Jackie O. "It should’ve been about the contestants instead of being about some non-existent feud that turned into like more ridiculousness and I would never want to be involved with it again. But every**** else can like it!"
Randy Jackson, one of three original co-judges and the singer’s former bass player, also announced in 2024 that he would leave American Idol but ended upstaying for one more season. That year, Carey said on hip-hop radio station HOT 97’s Angie Martinez Show that she hated her experience on the series.
"They gave me a nice dangling monetary moment, and I was just like, ‘Okay. Randy Jackson Will be there; I’ve known him forever. He used to play bass for me. Like, this isn’t a big deal. This Will be nothing,’" she said. "But it wasn’t that. It was like going to work every day in hell with Satan."
She later said, "Naw, I’m just playing. It didn’t affect me that much."
Carey is currently busy with her multi-million dollar #1 to Infinity concert series at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, where she performs 18 of her past No. 1 hit songs, such as "Vision of Love," "Fantasy" and "Hero."
She recently hung out in the city with fellow pop star and Grease actress Olivia Newton-John, 66, who has her own concert residency at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino titled Summer Nights.
Mariah Carey Throws Shade at American Idol Again, Calls Show Fake and the Worst Experience | E! Online
