‘American Idol’ judge and musician Katy Perry sent a young mom of three to Hollywood — but not before appearing to shame her for her motherhood as she auditioned for the panel of judges.
The contestant, Sara Beth Liebe, told judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Perry that she is 25 years old. While the judges appeared shocked and all agreed she looked more like a teenager, Liebe cheerfully added, “I have three kids.”
At this, Perry dramatically exited her seat and turned her back on the contestant behind the judges’ table, sporting a stunned expression for the camera.
“If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m gonna pass out,” Liebe said, laughing — to which Perry responded, “Honey, you been laying on the table too much!” (Video below has been replaced with a different version, as American Idol’s YouTube page appears to have no mention of Sara Beth Liebe as a contestant.)
The NY Post reported:
Liebe first sang Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” as an unimpressed Perry interrupted, “Come on, we need more,” as Liebe continued.
“That’s not enough,” Perry determined at the song’s end. “Try ‘Bennie and the Jets,’” she instructed, claiming Liebe had nothing to lose because it’s “not her dream yet.”…
“Accidental American Idol,” Perry nicknamed Liebe.
“I feel like a comic strip character just came to life,” Perry said after Sara Beth was done, with Bryan expressing his “love” for her performance.
“Look, if it’s not your dream, it’s not gonna go far because I also respect everyone that’s walking through that door who will lay down their life for this golden ticket [to Hollywood],” Perry added about other hopefuls advancing to the next round of competition.
Ultimately, Bryan and Perry voted for Liebe to move on to the next round, while Richie “went with his gut” and voted against her because he didn’t think she took the competition seriously.
Some viewers reacted strongly to Perry’s treatment of Liebe on the show:
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.
— Maven_Star (@EyezrStarry) March 6, 2023
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. #AmericanIdol
— Carol Majewski (@ceefreeski) March 6, 2023
Katy has told us in interveiws that she sold her soul to the devil for her current fame. She sees an innocent, unsullied, unmolested, uncompromised soul in this contestant. Katy can't handle it. Katy wants to be clean and knows will never be that again ever.
— Strdst💫1970 (@strdst1970) March 7, 2023
Perry has courted controversy on the show before, and in particular has appeared to mock the traditional values of contestants (or their families).
As the Daily Wire noted, she kissed one contestant, 19-year-old Benjamin Glaze, on the mouth after he told her he wanted to save his first kiss for his first real relationship. He said he had “wanted it to be special.”
Just a year ago, a 21-year-old contestant named Israel McFarland appeared on the show. When Perry asked him about his “unusual” first name, he told her, “My parents like to name us all names from the Bible” and said he was raised in a religious home.
Perry replied mockingly to this, saying, “Let me give you a little piece of advice. Write a song called ‘I Kissed a Boy and I Liked It’ and let them hear it for the first time on their own on the radio.” (Perry was referring to her early hit, “I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It.”) She added, “Alright, Israel. What Satan music are you going to share with us today?”
She later said, “I know your story. I lived your story in a lot of ways. But it’s just not there yet.”
Perry was raised in a home with Christian parents and got her start in contemporary Christian music as “Katy Hudson.” However, she has long since renounced the Christian beliefs which with she was raised. Perry, 38, is currently married to actor Orlando Bloom and gave birth to their first child, daughter Daisy, in 2020.
Katy Perry was a Christian singer and was told she wasn't gonna go far unless she sexed it up and sung about being promiscuous. She knows what it takes to make it.
— 🅱️ararheon_Man_at_Arms (@Stanniswasright) March 7, 2023
Ultimately, Sara Beth Liebe may or may not the next ‘American Idol.’ Regardless, being a mother to her three children is worth ‘laying down her life’ for — far more than a golden ticket to Hollywood would ever be.
