Celeb Corner

Paula Abdul all set to replace Luke Bryan in American Idol as guest judge until the latter recovers from COVID-19

By Chitranshi Agarwal

ABC’s American Idol is all excited to welcome Paula Abdul back to the judge seat this week, though it might have happened through unfortunate circumstances.

On Monday, singer and current Idol judge Luke Bryan announced he’s unable to be a part of this season’s first live show as he tested COVID-19 positive. He said, “I’m doing well and look forward to being back at it soon.”

In response to the news, the show quoted his tweet saying, “We wish him a speedy recovery,” and then dropped the big news that Paula Abdul “will be stepping in as a guest judge with Lionel Richie and Katy Perry.”

Paula Abdul retweeted the show’s tweet with a comment expressing grief as he won’t be a part of the show anymore, “We’ll miss you tonight Luke Bryan.”

The “Straight Up” singer has returned to the show before as well, but this will be the first time in the judge’s seat since she left the show in 2009, back when it was still on Fox.

Abdul was a founding member of the judging panel when American Idol was launched in 2000. He now known as the quintessential nice judge, also taking her critical talents to reality competitions like So You Think You Can Dance and The Masked Dancer.

On Monday it was announced by the host Ryan Seacrest in his show morning show Live with Kelly & Ryan that Idol will be adding a slight twist Monday night.

To fill out its Season 19 Top 10, the show will be welcoming back 10 contestants from Season 18 so that they can finally perform on ABC’s singing show stage.

Tags: American Idol COVID-19 luke bryan paula abdul

Chitranshi Agarwal

Chitranshi Agarwal is a Journalism and Mass Communication graduate. She has worked as a Content Writer, Social Media handler and RJ. She is currently working as a journalist at USANewshour.com. She is reachable at chitra98ag@gmail.com.