Facing the music. American Idol contestant Sara Beth Liebe is calling out Katy Perry after the judge made a not-so-nice joke about motherhood on the show.
Before the contestant impressed Perry, 38, and fellow judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie with her performances of “You Know I’m No Good” by Amy Winehouse and “Bennie And The Jets” by Elton John, the superstars were surprised by the fact she is a mother of three at just 25 years old. The revelation prompted the “Dark Horse” singer to get up and lean against Bryan, 46, in shock, after which Liebe stated, “If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m gonna pass out.”
Perry — who shares daughter Daisy Dove, 2, with fiancé Orlando Bloom — followed up by joking about the auditionee’s motherhood journey, saying, “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much.”
Liebe noted that Perry’s comment “wasn’t super kind” in a TikTok shared a few days after her episode aired. “I don’t really have too much to say on my feelings about it because I feel like it’s probably pretty self-explanatory,” she added. “I mean, it was embarrassing to have that on TV and it was hurtful and, you know, that’s that.”
The music hopeful continued: “I think women supporting and uplifting other women is so cool, 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. 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 am grateful for you and you’re worthy and keep loving your babies. Nobody deserves to feel crappy about that.”
Liebe concluded her video message by brushing off the “Firework” singer’s remark, stating, “If you’re a good mama and you love your babies, that’s all that really matters, and other comments just don’t feel necessary.”
Perry and Bloom, 46, announced in August 2020 that they had welcomed their daughter. “We are floating with love and wonder from the safe and healthy arrival of our daughter,” the couple said in a statement to UNICEF. “But we know we’re the lucky ones and not everyone can have a birthing experience as peaceful as ours was.” (Bloom also shares son Flynn, 12, with ex-wife Miranda Kerr).
The Grammy nominee returned to her role as a judge on the ABC singing competition series two months after giving birth, sporting a head-to-toe cow print outfit.
@sarabethliebe Well. I didnt think id be making this video, but i just wanted to say a couple things since im being flooded with articles and comments/messages about this.
Liebe isn’t the first competitor to call out comments Perry made on the show over the years. On February 13, American Idol alum Adriel Carrion shared a clip via TikTok of the awkward moment he and fellow contestant Anthony Guzman began performing Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” right after Perry had joked that the song was banned for the rest of the season’s performances.
“It’s the way that it has been three years and I’m still traumatized by this moment,” the former competitor joked in the video. “I could be getting my beauty rest and all I hear in my nightmare is ‘Not Watermelon Sugar.’”
Perry, for her part, told Us Weekly in October 2017 that she and the other judges don’t “believe in being nasty’ on the show. She continued: “I think what we believe in is being constructive and giving constructive criticism because it doesn’t help anyone and people are really sensitive and we understand because we’ve all walked into a room like that at one time in our lives.”
