Luke Bryan left viewers in awe when he was spotted with an IV drip at the judges’ table during American Idol auditions.
The “One Margarita” singer, 47, held his arm out while a nurse searched for a vein on the Sunday, March 3, episode as Katy Perry filmed the event on her phone. Fellow judge Lionel Richie watched from afar.
“Katy is making me take my first-ever IV with vitamins,” Bryan told the camera.
Perry, 39, spilled the beans as to why Bryan was receiving the treatment, noting that the country artist had to go “this route” because he was stubbornly avoiding oral vitamins.
“You won’t orally take vitamins,” Perry told him. “We have to stick you with them.”
As the nurse poked his arm, Bryan let out a scream before contestant Aniston Pate left the judges speechless over her “Modern Dolly Parton” performance.
Idol returned for its 22nd season in February. Shortly before new episodes began to air, Dustin Lynch revealed that Bryan was fearful of losing his job on the singing competition last year after making controversial comments about his fellow country artist. (Bryan has been a judge on the reality show since 2018.)
“We’re looking at all these articles pop up like, ‘Oh, crap,’” Lynch, 38, said during the February 6 episode of iHeartPodcasts and MeatEater’s “God’s Country” podcast. “So [Bryan] has to apologize. … Now he’s worrying [about], obviously, American Idol.”
Lynch continued: “Who cares about the country music thing? It’s American Idol. … He gets to where he can’t sleep at night ’cause he’s worried about what my parents think.”
Lynch said that Bryan asked for his parents’ email addresses to make amends to them, noting that “just shows you what kinda guy Luke is.”
Bryan previously sparked controversy at the 2023 Crash My Playa music festival when he made fun of Lynch while introducing him on stage.
“No one has drank more liquor. No one has vomited more. No one has taken more drugs. No one has taken more IVs. No one has passed more STD tests than this next gentleman, ladies and gentlemen,” Bryan said at the time. “He got a clean bill. He does not have diseases. Give it up for Dustin Lynch!”
Bryan later took to his Instagram Story to clarify his statement.
“Dustin Lynch is one of my dearest friends on the planet,” Bryan said in January 2023. “No one respects him more than I do … My introduction of him was complete sarcasm. Those words that I used were so absurd, I figured everybody would take it as sarcasm. Obviously, some people didn’t.”
He continued: “I spoke to Dustin. I love him. He and I are all good, and I apologize to anybody that doesn’t understand my humor and sarcasm. It’s been going on like that down there for years.”
American Idol airs on ABC Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
