Luke Bryan wants fans to stop coming down so hard on Katy Perry.
The Firework singer has faced increasing backlash on the show and on social media during her latest season as a judge on American Idol, which her co-star Bryan said is unwarranted.
“Katy gets picked on for going out and trying to have fun making a TV show,” the country singer told Fox News in an article published Monday.
“You can’t be so safe in the moment that you’re so homogenised, you can’t ever go for a joke. Or go for a fun moment,” Bryan explained. “Sometimes, you just gotta say stuff.”
“It makes me appreciate her even more, just how big of a scale she’s had to deal with that her whole career,” he added.
The Country Girl entertainer said that he, Perry and fellow judge Lionel Richie are doing “the best we can” on the show.
“I think we get set up,” he continued. “As judges, you know, we kinda fall on the sword a lot of times. And get set up to where people can get very vocal on socials and stuff.”
Perry has taken heat this year with accusations of “mum-shaming” contestant Sara Beth Liebe.
Liebe, a 25-year-old mom of three, shocked Perry and Bryan during her audition, when both commented that she looked 16. When Liebe revealed how many children she had, Perry got up from the judge’s table and pretended to faint.
“If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m going to pass out,” Liebe exclaimed.
“Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much,” Perry quipped, as Bryan laughed out loud.
Liebe later spoke about the “embarrassing” and “hurtful” comments in a since-deleted post on TikTok.
“I mean, it was embarrassing to have that on TV. And it was hurtful and, you know, that’s that,” she said. “But I did want to take this opportunity to just say that I think that women supporting and uplifting other women is so cool, and I think that mom-shaming is super lame.”