Caleb Kennedy, one of the youngest “American Idol” contestants and a top five finalist this season, announced an abrupt exit from the competition on Wednesday.
Why did Caleb Kennedy leave ‘American Idol’?
Kennedy’s departure from the show comes after an old video resurfaced online. The footage shows the singer sitting next to a person wearing a white hood that resembles Ku Klux Klan garb, The Washington Post reported.
Kennedy’s family said the video was recorded four years ago when the singer was 12.
- “I hate this has happened and how Caleb is being portrayed by people online,” Kennedy’s mother, Anita Guy, told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. “This video was taken after Caleb had watched the movie ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’ and they were imitating those characters. It had nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan, but I know that’s how it looks. Caleb doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. He loves everyone and has friends of all races.”
The short video went viral and drew backlash after YouTube comedian Def Noodles posted it to Twitter late Tuesday, The Washington Post reported.
On Wednesday, Kennedy, a 16-year-old country singer from Spartanburg, South Carolina, addressed the video in an Instagram post and said that he would no longer be on “American Idol.”
- “There was a video that surfaced on the internet, and it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way,” Kennedy wrote. “I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that’s not an excuse.
- “I wanna say sorry to all my fans and everyone who I have let down,” he continued. “I’ll be taking a little time off social media to better myself, but saying that, I know this has hurt and disappointed a lot of people and made people lose respect for me. I’m sorry! I pray that I can one day regain your trust in who I am and have your respect.”
What happens now on ‘American Idol’?
- Although he was one of the younger competitors, Kennedy continually impressed the judges with his songwriting skills and confidence in who he is an artist, the Deseret News reported.
- Most recently on the show, the singer performed a song he wrote for his mom. “Idol” judge Lionel Richie called it a “smash record” and Luke Bryan called Kennedy an “anomaly” for being able to write songs of that caliber at his age, the Deseret News reported.
- With Kennedy’s exit from the show, Sunday’s episode of “American Idol” will now feature the top four contestants, with one singer being eliminated, according to People.
- “American Idol” has removed Kennedy from its social media pages, including the singer’s many performances throughout his run on the show, The Washington Post reported.