Mariah Carey didn’t hold back about her true feelings regarding her American Idol hosting gig. So much for “The Art of Letting Go”.
The pop icon unleashed quite a bit of vitriol during an interview with New York’s Hot 97 host Angie Martinez. Carey didn’t refer by name to her former co-judges — Nicki Minaj or Keith Urban — but did liken the whole experience to being “in hell with Satan”.
Basically, she didn’t like it one bit.
“Honestly, I hated it,” the 43-year-old said. “Here’s what it was. I was led to believe — I was the first person who signed on ... Honestly, thought it was going to be a three-person panel.”
“They gave me a nice, dangling monetary moment, and I thought, ‘OK, 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.”
“But it wasn’t that,” she said. “It was like hell — going to work every day in hell with Satan.”
The pop diva constantly clashed with the feisty MC, Minaj, even before the show aired on FOX. However, Carey didn’t call her out by name.
Instead, the high-pitched singer — perhaps realising the severity of her words — threw in a “just kidding” and added, “It didn’t affect me that much.”
“I was just disappointed,” she added. “You know what I loved? I loved the contestants. And some of them were so good and also really good people, it was disappointing when they would — for political reasons — not put people through.”
Carey said she lobbied for some contestants to go directly to the studio or start recording, but it didn’t work out because “that’s the way it is on that kind of TV thing”.
The diva left the show in March, citing her upcoming focus on her world tour and on the heels of Jackson’s exit. Soon after, Minaj announced she’d be leaving too.
Carey said she left because she simply preferred being in the studio herself and going tour instead.
The once-mighty singing competition has witnessed its share of judge shuffles, and the 12th season finale was the lowest-rated season finale ever for the series, with 14.3 million viewers, Show Tracker reported.
Season 13 will return to the original three-judge format and will herald the comeback of former judge Jennifer Lopez, who will be joined by Harry Connick Jr. and Urban. Jackson will also return in a mentor capacity.
— Los Angeles Times
